The proposed change in school construction would mean the locals crossing the bonds – Cowboy State Daily

The Senate Education Committee adopted a resolution on Monday to ask voters to amend the Wyoming Constitution to dramatically change the way the school was approved and financed in Wyoming.

Senate Joint Resolution 6 passed 3-2 votes with Sens Charles Scott, R-Casper; Evi Brennan, R-Cheyenne; and Jared Olson, R-Meenne, voting in support; and Sens. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston and Chris Rothfuss, D-Lramie, vs.

SJ 6 would cancel previous decisions of the Supreme Court of Wyoming, which made the school construction of state responsibility and will return Wyoming to its previous school bond system, which has been used for nearly 110 years. It was this system that led to a series of lawsuits in the 1990s and early 2000s led to the current model of funding used today.

The way the old and proposed system works is that school districts must go to local voters to approve bond initiatives that will be used to increase the mill rates to ensure funding for all new construction projects, tax A structure used in many states in the US

The school construction in Wyoming is now based on a complex formula for the needs carried out by the state, with funding and final approval for drafts given by the legislature.

Scott, the sponsor of the bill, believes that the state has spent three times more in school construction than it really has been needed since 2001.

“Honestly, the current system was a pork barrel system, as every legislator must protect its home school neighborhood,” Scott said. “Nobody knows enough to say no to another school neighborhood and will be remembered if we do.”

Will need a vote

If the resolution is adopted by the legislature, it will still have to go to voters in 2026 in order to amend the state constitution.

Even if it is accepted by the voters, the mandatory assistance in equalizing school funding will still be used by the state, another term created by the Supreme Court of the State. The aid would increase the amount collected from local taxes to the amount of what will collect on the basis of person to person.

The costs of paying off bonds and interest will be leveled so that the necessary tax on the mill of the school area does not exceed what the mill of the mill would be if the area is evaluated equal to the average of the state of a person, evaluated. Funding for equalization can come from a mill to the mill across the country.

If accepted, the legislature will create a system to determine which capital facilities are not necessary for education and thus not to meet the conditions of equalization.

There were more than 100 people at the Capitol meeting in Capitol in Capitol in Capitol, with about 50 watching the meeting from the overflow hall through the Commission’s room.

Few are satisfied with the status quo

Scott is a firm believer that Wyoming does not receive the value of his money for funding at school based on the results of the student test.

He also stated that the current model of school financing no longer works because of the disappearance of coal leasing payments by the federal government and reduces the reading of the school foundation program for construction at school. The overall decline in revenue from minerals in Wyoming has put the future of school and state funding in recent years.

“For these reasons, we are looking for a completely different system,” Scott said.

Ken Decaria, Director of Government Relations for the Wyoming School Council Association, which opposed the bill, said that when Wyoming switched to the coal leasing system in 2001 after the decision of the Supreme Court of Campbell II, It is never regarded as a permanent decision.

This court ruling ruled that Wyoming’s construction at school should be made on the basis of Wyoming’s wealth as a country as a whole, not local wealth.

Decaria believes that the financing of school construction at the local level will create more inequality, as voters in more rich areas will have a less tax burden to finance new schools than in less wealthy areas, which Scott admitted that is true.

Public Instructions Chief Megan Degenfelder told Cowboy State Daily that he similarly prefers to restructure the model of funding for school facilities than to pass SJ 6.

“I am not sure that the Wyoming people are ready to find where the other revenue comes from to fund these projects,” she said.

But she also believes that inequality already exists within the current model, which she described as “broken.” She pointed out the fact that the communities around high schools Kelly Walsh and Pinenel provide a significant amount of money to the state through mineral production, but these schools suffer from non -standard facilities.

“We are now uneven now,” she said.

Decaria has proposed a change in the language that will go to the ballot voters, clarifying that the approval of the measure will transfer the burden for the construction of schools by the state of the local communities and give the legislative power the authority to initiate a new tax to support the equalization funding help.

The Committee adopted the first part of this amendment, but not the tax aspect.

Transmit to voters

Shuler expressed concern that the distribution of decisions for the construction of local voters schools could lead to a decline in approved facilities. She was a teacher before Campbell II’s decision and believed that the bond system was working at the time, but also said that there was a different economic climate.

“We had a ton of money, we were in an oil boom, there was no problem,” he was eating straight, “she said. “I do not know that we could go one of the areas I represent right now, and I don’t know that we should try to do this right now.”

Scott said before Campbell II, the voters were open to approving school projects in the Natron County, if they were really needed, but if “they receive gold, they will not pass it.”

Jeremy Smith, a business manager at Sheridan’s School District No. 1, accused the legislature of not listening to school staff on the construction of a school.

“If you have a certain amount of high schools and expect them to withstand a certain amount of years, it means that you just have to build a certain number every year – good, bad or indifferent, rain or shy, just build a certain number,” he said.

A number of school staff have expressed concern that the transfer of the decision whether to pursue the local school construction of local voters will not be a profitable endeavor.

The Chairman of the Board of the Condition County County No. 2 Casey Tillard agreed to Degenfelder’s mood, mentioning how his Glenrock community gave $ 24.7 million to the state for funding at school while receiving only $ 10 million. Only this dynamic, he said, would make it almost impossible to get connected to local voters.

“It’s just very hard for me to believe that Converse County will buy this and we will never pass it,” Tillard said. “I am curious how we will stay in the business.”

Charles Autsky, head of the Johnson County School District No. 1, said he would also have to go to voters for running maintenance costs.

He said the approval of new HVAC projects to maintain the current use of a school in his community would be a “heavy impetus” due to the amount of money available in the smaller communities like Kaycee.

“It’s not about building a new school, it’s about maintaining some of the HVAC expenses,” he said.

Scott said the resolution would not affect the main support for maintenance, which is also approved by the state.

Decario and Smith also said that it can be extremely difficult to obtain local approval for the construction of a charter school, as these schools usually serve a much less number of students.

Scott said state authorized schools can continue to use facilities through leasing contracts.

Debate

Rothfus talks against the bill, although he agrees that the state should find a problem for its problem of financing construction at school. He said the bill represents legislation through the Constitution, not just to convey a decision to local voters.

“This is not a long -term solution because we don’t know how well it will work,” Rothfus said.

He also said that even with the built-in equalization factor, the financing of school construction at the local level will limit local resources to build schools that, according to him, will create even more inequalities among more and less outspoken communities.

Shuler agreed and said the time of resolution was bad when he was considering how much ownership tax relief was considered in the legislature. Nearly 70% of property tax revenue goes to local schools.

Olsen counters that whatever happens to ownership taxes, public schools are protected by funding for the Stabilization Legislative Account (LSRA). Rotfus said this is only true as long as Lsra still has money in it.

Leo Wolfson can be reached [email protected].