Proposed change would cost local district over a half million dollars.

The state continues to discuss the possibility of altering the funding model for school districts. To date non of the school districts within the state have spoken in support of the change.
In a report dated Sept. 24, State Superintendent Jim McBride outlined the Wyoming Department of Education’s reasons for considering the change.
“[The change will] improve the accuracy of school district average daily membership data,” the WDE report stated. “This is part of the natural out-growth of the funding model with average daily membership being school-based and technology allowing for more accurate methos of calculating average daily membership.”
Under current regulations, school districts in Wyoming are allowed to calcuate their average daily membership (ADM) in one of three ways.
The first way, which would be eleminated under the proposed funding change, divides students into two groups, full-time students and half-time students. Students who attend school for more than 50 percent of the day are counted as full-time students. Students who attend class less than 50 percent of the day are considered half-time students.
The second method of ADM calculation works in percentages. For example, a student who attends three class periods of day in a school that offers eight periods has an ADM of .375.
The third ADM option in the state ratios the number of hours of a student’s classroom attendance to the total hours available. For example, a student who attends two hours of school each day for 200 days has 400 hours of class time. If that school normally has 1100 hours during that 200-day period, that student would have a ratio of 400/1100 or .364 ADM.
Both the second and third option of ADM calculation would remain the same under the proposed funding model change.
“The state’s school finance consultants support this more accurate method of counting ADM,” said McBride in the September report. “This change makes the calculation of ADM more cost-based because the state would fund districts based on their actual, full-time equivalency of student membership.”
The proposed funding change would have a drastic affect on Lincoln County School District No. 2. According to an impact study completed by the Department of Education, at the request of this district, Lincoln County School District No. 2 stands to lose $586,838 over a three-year period.
“That is money that we would have to live without and we would have to find a way to shave our budget,” said Superintendent Jon Abrams. “We hope the state does not move in that direction. But we will live with whatever decision is made.”
The other two school districts in the state that will be most impacted by the proposed funding change are Big Horn County School District No. 2 in Lovell and Unita County School District No. 6 in Lyman. The study illustrated that Lovell would lose $125,254 over a three-year period and Lyman would lose $160,334 in that same time frame.
Representative Dan Dockstader has been tracking the progress of the school funding model proposal since early September. He and Abrams attended the first public hearing on the matter in Cheyenne. When the matter was deferred to the Joint Education Committee meeting in Casper at the end of September, Rep. Dockstader and Abrams both attended.
“I informed the committee that not one school district in the state favored this change and that they continue to oppose it,” said Dockstader. “I made a point that we should be awknowledged for meeting all educational requirements set by the Department of Education from school attendence to passing required state tests. I asked the committee why they would consider changing a system that is already working well.”
According to Dockstader, the Joint Education Committee has passed the matter on to Legislative Management.
“At this point it doesn’t look like they will consider it any further,” said Dockstader. “That may change. But at this point the issue is not on their agenda.”