By Carrie Haderlie
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

CHEYENNE — Lawmakers in the Senate voted to resume discussions related to a controversial school funding process called recalibration on Friday.

The Senate voted unanimously in favor of introducing Senate File 81, “K-12 public school finance-2,” a mirror bill to one that failed in the House on Monday. Friday was the last day to introduce bills during the legislative session.

Both bills were the result of months of committee work during the interim. 

During recalibration, which is constitutionally required to occur every five years, lawmakers reshape the state’s school funding model, considering everything from class sizes to compensation for teachers and staff, as well as allocation of safety, security, school lunch and mental health funding spread across Wyoming’s school districts.

When introducing SF 81 to the Senate Friday, Sen. Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, said he was surprised by the House vote earlier this week to kill its version of the bill.

“Honorable members, you are well aware of this bill. You know what’s in it, I’m not going to explain it,” he said. “Quite frankly, this was a bill on the other side. I thought we had an agreement. We had a unanimous vote coming out of the recalibration committee. And quite frankly, I’m surprised about this.”

The Senate, he said, could “correct whatever happened down there, keep recalibration alive.”

The draft legislation that became SF 81 and House Bill 110, “K-12 public school finance,” was “approved unanimously on a bipartisan basis” in committee, he said.

In the House on Friday morning, Rep. Robert Wharff, R-Evanston, made a motion to suspend rules to allow the House to reconsider HB 110. His motion failed in a 38-22 vote, as it was necessary to get a two-thirds vote during the budget session.

Wyoming Education Association President Kim Amen said in a statement Friday that while the WEA appreciated the interim work that went into the recalibration process, “the current bill is not fully cost-based and does not adequately reflect the real and rising costs facing our public schools.”

Further, she said lawmakers heard extensive testimony from parents, educators, administrators, counselors, business managers, insurance representatives and community members about “what is truly needed to support Wyoming’s public schools.”

“Wyoming students deserve a cost-based funding model that is grounded in need,” she said. In 2025, Laramie County District Court Judge Peter Froelicher ruled that Wyoming had been unconstitutionally underfunding its K-12 public schools, ordering the state to modify its funding model “to assure the school financing system for operations and for school facilities are constitutional.”

Salazar said Friday that SF 81 “adheres to what I believe are the wishes of the court on funding of K-12 education.”

In its work over the interim, the Select School Finance Recalibration Committee voted unanimously to sponsor the 95-page, estimated $1.8 billion bill. The committee also heard days of testimony from concerned members of the public, from teachers, parents and district staff across the state, that the bill would actually decrease funding for classroom teachers and increase class sizes.

Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Gillette, said during the interim that the committee decided to focus on topics like average daily membership formulas, teacher salaries and educational block grant funding during this session.

During the 2026 interim, he said, lawmakers would tackle elements mandated for recalibration per the 2025 district court ruling, including funding for school resource officers, school nutrition and mental health counselors.

Amen said the WEA will “continue advocating for amendments,” including ensuring an external cost adjustment is applied every year, maintaining a rolling three-year average for average daily attendance numbers, preserving lower class sizes, increasing salaries for all education staff, and removing the mandate that all educators join the state health insurance plan.

“We remain committed to engaging in good faith with lawmakers to ensure Wyoming’s public schools are fully and fairly funded for all of the students and communities we serve,” she said.

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