A first-year teacher in Sheridan County School District 3, which serves the small community of Clearmont, earns a base salary of $48,000. Superintendent Chase Christensen reported that the median home price in the community exceeds $400,000.
Chris Tensen, a special education director, tech director, principal, and part-time bus driver for Wyoming’s second-smallest district, believes that a couple involved in education should be able to earn enough to raise a family and buy a home in their community.
He urged lawmakers to raise teacher pay during Friday’s Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration meeting in Casper. Educators have been underpaid for far too long, and it is hurting the state, he said.
“I urge you not to be guided by what has been done before, or by practices that have taken advantage of a group of professionals for far too long,” responded Christensen. “Instead, I invite you to step out and set a base rate of pay that you believe is respectful of the profession, that is right, that will help recruit and retain the best, and that will drive our state’s economy for generations.”
He concluded that a base salary of $70,000 better reflects the job’s requirements for preparation, skill, and responsibility. “I recognize that this represents a significant increase, but our students are worth the investment.”
As lawmakers read through the preliminary findings of consultants tasked with evaluating Wyoming’s educational funding model last week, the need to pay teachers more was a recurring theme.
The ongoing recalibration process is assessing a variety of components, including pay. Every five years, the Legislature must conduct an exhaustive and time-consuming assessment of public education funding.
This time, however, lawmakers are doing so in light of a district court ruling that the Wyoming Legislature violated the state constitution by underfunding public education and must amend it. They are also doing so at a time when many legislators want to reduce government spending.
The preliminary findings
The recalibration process is required every five years to ensure that the Legislature fulfills its constitutional obligation to “provide for the establishment and maintenance of a complete and uniform system of public instruction.”
To accomplish this, the state’s consultants, Picus, Odden, and Associates, will meet with Wyoming educators over the next several months to analyze data and make recommendations.
The consultants, who have been working on the assessment since the early summer, presented their preliminary findings to the committee on Thursday and Friday.
Among the minutiae and acronym-heavy language of education, several issues emerged as hot topics for educators and legislators. They include teacher retention, school resource officers, nutrition programs, transportation requirements, and technology.
Many of these issues overlap with those addressed in the February court decision on school funding. The ruling, which the state is appealing, is the most recent in a line of court cases that have clarified the state’s educational obligations.
In his 186-page order, Laramie County District Court Judge Peter Froelicher found that the Legislature failed to adequately fund the “basket of quality educational goods and services,” which the Wyoming Supreme Court ordered lawmakers to set, update, and fund every two years in 1995.
The judge also determined that the state failed to properly adjust funding for inflation, did not provide adequate salaries for teachers and staff, and did not provide sufficient funding for mental health counselors, school safety resource officers, nutritional programs, and student computers.
He also ruled that lawmakers failed to properly assess school buildings for “educational suitability,” and that inadequate facilities remained in place for far too long without repair or replacement.
Consultants do not yet have salary recommendations; they plan to discuss the topic at the next meeting in October, according to consultant Dr. Larry Picus.
However, Picus believes Wyoming’s 2025 “evidence-based model” for funding elementary school mental health counselors already meets the court-required standard.
That model, he explained, funds one core counselor for each prototypical elementary school (288 students), as well as counselors for struggling students. The additional cost is $13 million.
Discussions about other court-identified areas prompted lawmakers to seek additional details, answers, or information. This included the costs, models, and benefits of school resource officers; limits on school reserve accounts; and the amount of general fund money districts spend on nutrition programs.
“This is a terribly important issue,” said Sen. Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, regarding school nutrition. “It’s something that we need to get right, and do it right, and so I think there’s still a great deal of work that needs to be done on this particular issue.”
Technology in schools, such as providing computers to all students, also raised concerns. Aside from salary levels, Picus stated that this topic was the most commonly identified as inadequately funded by the state’s model.
Picus estimated that the annual cost of a computer per pupil is $215. However, when hardware, technical assistance, and other associated costs are factored in, the cost per student approaches $500.
Sen. Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, challenged the notion that providing every student with a computer is necessary.
“My question regarding computers is, ‘Where is the evidence?'” Biteman inquired. “Where is the evidence that having each student have a Chromebook, rather than a textbook, improves student outcomes? “I just don’t see the evidence.”
According to his findings, heavy computer use is associated with poorer outcomes.
“So I really want to see the evidence before we go down this rabbit hole that the judge sent us on,” Biteman said, adding that doing so would be inefficient and costly. “Just because it feels good to a judge doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s what’s best for our kids.”
Teacher’s pay
Though consultants were not prepared to present on teacher pay, Picus suggested Wyoming pay substitute teachers more, up to $300 per day.
And teacher pay still came up. Many of the district superintendents and administrators who attended the meeting mentioned how the high cost of living and low salaries have made it more difficult to attract and retain teachers.
“When we talk about how much it costs for someone to live in Teton County, we can’t afford it right now,” said Kristen Mayo, executive director of resources for Teton County School District 1.
She recognized her county as an outlier and stated that, while the district and local communities have launched separate initiatives to address the issue, it remains a serious problem. Owning a home is virtually impossible, she said, and renting is becoming increasingly out of reach.
“Really, at the end of the day, I would say we need more money in our salaries, just so our teachers can live in Teton County, in the community that they work in,” she told me.
Superintendent Jeff Jones of Sheridan County School District 1 stated that salary increases will have a direct impact on the quality of educators in a state that is struggling to fill positions.
“If things improve with salaries here, we’re going to see a different salary pool,” he told me. “Not just in numbers of people, but the quality of people is going to change as well.”
Consultants intend to hold additional in-person listening sessions with educators throughout Wyoming before the next committee meeting, which is scheduled for October 28-29 in Casper.
