School Finance Synopsis

 

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III. Wyoming School Finance System

 

A. Introduction

 

The Wyoming school finance system is designed to provide an equal opportunity for each Wyoming school child to receive a quality education.  A quality education is defined by the Legislature as the proper education ensuring both the ability to participate fully as a citizen and an opportunity to seek post-secondary education or other options such as productive employment.  The proper education is provided through a legislatively prescribed basket of educational goods and services, comprised primarily of a common core of knowledge and skills, together with programs addressing special needs of identified student populations and mandatory statewide graduation requirements.

 

The Legislature continues to rely upon the State Superintendent, the State Board of Education and school districts as the structure for actually delivering the prescribed proper education.  State educational program standards are established by the State Board based upon the required common core mastery areas and other statutorily prescribed components.  Districts are responsible for offering educational programs complying with the statewide program standards, risking continued accreditation upon a finding of noncompliance.

 

Resources necessary to deliver the proper education or "basket of goods and services" to each student are for the most part determined through a methodology or model based upon actual cost, often referred to as the MAP model and statutorily defined as the Education Resource Block Grant Model.  This model rationally determines a per pupil dollar amount necessary to provide the proper education based upon circumstances of the student (grade level, physical disability, English proficiency) and circumstances of the district (population density, regional costs of living, teacher seniority levels).  This per pupil dollar amount is the amount guaranteed to a district for delivery of the "basket".  Districts are granted the freedom of allocating these revenues in a manner best suited to their particular circumstances and student population, so long as a proper educational program is provided.

 

The school finance system continues in part the statutory framework for determining district entitlements or payments, as used under the finance system based upon the classroom unit.  In essence, this framework compares the amounts guaranteed to a district through the cost-based per pupil dollar amount, to other revenues available to that district.  This comparison results in a determination of individual district entitlement amounts, i.e., payments from the state.  It also determines if a district is a "recapture" district and subject to recapture payments.  If the guaranteed amount exceeds local resources, the district is entitled to a payment from the state equal to the difference.  If the results are opposite and local resources exceed the guarantee, the district is a recapture district and the state recaptures the entire excess amount.[1]

 

Traditional "local" revenue flows directly allocated to districts are continued under this new finance system and include federal mineral royalty distributions, Taylor Grazing Act funds, fines and penalties and motor vehicle registration fee allocations, etc.  Although somewhat redefined by the Legislature, the local revenues used in entitlement computations include most general operating fund revenues available to a district.  The most notable exception is common school land income payments, a traditional local district revenue source that for several reasons was redirected to the foundation program account.  The matter is discussed in more detail later within this report.