Draft Only – Approval Pending

 

 

M I N U T E S

 

Joint Appropriations Committee

Video Conference

Various locations

November 1, 2006 

 

PRESENT:       Senator John Hines and Representative Frank Philp, CoChairmen.

                       

Senators:   Jim Anderson, Cale Case, Rae Lynn Job, and Phil Nicholas.

 

Representatives:  Rosie Berger, Alan Jones, Pete Jorgensen, Larry Meuli, Owen Peterson, Colin Simpson and Jane Warren.

 

Legislative Service Office:  Brenda Long, Dave Nelson and Steve Sommers.

 

Others: Mary Kay Hill, State Department of Education, Mike McVay, State Budget Office, Mike O’Donnell, State Attorney General’s Office and Lawrence Picus, of Lawrence O. Picus and Associates.

 

Supporting documents on file with Legislative Service Office

 

 

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

 

The Committee went into executive session via a telephone conference call at 1:30 p.m.

 

CoChairman Hines called the Committee into regular session at 2:15 p.m.

 

K-12 External Cost Adjustment (ECA)

 

Dave Nelson, LSO School Finance Manager opened the discussion with a brief synopsis of the ECA process. He informed the Committee the ECA process had been in place since the adoption of the original MAP school finance model, and while the JAC was required by statute to make an ECA recommendation every year, but implementation of an ECA by the full legislature was not required by statute every year. He referred the Committee to the memo prepared by Lawrence O. Picus and Associates dated October 10, 2006 (See Appendix A) for an explanation of the current alternative indices that could be chosen as a guide for recommending an ECA.

 

Committee discussion centered on the appropriateness of using any of the alternative indices, as none do a perfect job of measuring the inflation associated with the specific goods and services a school district in Wyoming must purchase to provide education to Wyoming students.  Any of the indices that measure the overall cost of living (such as the WCLI or the CPI-U) will include such things as health care and housing costs that may not be appropriate for measuring school district costs. It was also pointed out by Mr. Picus that all of the 100% reimburseables such as special ed, transportation and health insurance costs are removed from the model before the ECA is applied, and approximately 80% of the amount of the funding model that is adjusted by the ECA is spent on personnel. Senator Case requested that whatever the Committee decided, additional information that would provide explanation and justification of the alternative indices should be developed and provided. Senator Nicholas moved the Committee recommend a 3.8% ECA based on the Employment Cost Index (ECI) associated with educational workers. Cochairman Philp seconded and the motion was adopted on a 12 to 1 roll call vote (see Appendix B for voting specifics).

 

Retiree insurance

 

Cochairman Hines informed the Committee that to continue the study of retiree health insurance benefits would require asking Management Council to approve up to $20,000 of the $50,000 appropriation made last session for such purposes. Staff has been working with the retirement system and the system actuary estimated the cost of providing the information requested to continue the study would be $20,000. Cochairman Philp moved the Committee make the request of Management Council to approve the $20,000. Representative Meuli seconded and the motion passed 12-1 on a voice vote.

 

Mr. Sommers stated that he would prepare a draft budget hearing schedule for the week of December 4 – 8 and keep the Committee informed on pertinent issues up to that point. 

 

Having completed all agenda items, Cochairman Hines adjourned the meeting.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

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John Hines, Cochairman                                          Frank Philp, Cochairman