Bills funding developmental preschools, controlling Wyoming school fees sent back to Senate floor

Feb. 16—CHEYENNE — The themes of the Senate Education Committee's Friday morning conversation focused on state funding of child development centers, lowering costs charged by school districts to use their facilities and giving public charter schools the flexibility to apply for federal and state grants as a local education entity (LEA).

Members of the committee forwarded two of three bills to the Senate floor that day, with the last bill being held for further discussion on Monday.

Developmental preschool funding

Senate File 19, "Developmental preschool funding," proposes a new method for calculating developmental preschool funding, as well as increases the budget request for such funding.

During the interim, members of the Legislature's Joint Education Committee increased state funding per child to a total of $12,300 per child based on testimony from local stakeholders. Child development center teachers and representatives stressed to lawmakers during the interim these facilities are at risk of shutting down without proper state funding.

The total appropriation out of the general funds for this bill in the 2025-26 biennium is $26,156,416.

Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, said this is a "large appropriation" for the bill and it will likely be fought out in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Testimony in previous committee meetings resulted in an amendment to the bill, changing the formula for student headcount so that it takes place in May, instead of December.

Stakeholders had previously testified this provided a better snapshot of how much funding developmental preschools needed based on the number of enrolled students. Tricia Whynott, executive director of STRIDE Learning Center in Cheyenne, expressed gratitude before members of the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday morning, when the bill was first discussed.

"It is remarkable that so much work was done in such a short amount of time," Whynott said. "The importance of higher (funding) per child amount could not be more necessary than ever before."

The previous allocation of $8,600 per child had fallen short in funding, Whynott said. There is one preschool child who travels more than 200 miles round-trip each day to attend STRIDE Learning Center, she added. This costs the school, at a rate of 62 cents per mile plus the hourly wage for the bus driver, $71,000 for 175 days of school.

"Statewide child development centers are in crisis. STRIDE is in crisis," Whynott said. "The increase in per-child amount is everything to us."

Further public testimony from parents Thursday noted the importance of funding these services in Wyoming. Without them, many families will have to consider moving out of state.

"We depend on these passionate, empathetic and experienced therapists and teachers," said Rebekah Smith Hazelton, with the Wyoming Women's Foundation. "These services aren't available otherwise, in Wyoming rural towns."

Scott explained there are two objectives in the bill. One is to distribute funds as quickly a possible, and the other is to calculate how the funds would be distributed.

"The appropriation is very likely to be different than the amount that is shown in the statute," Scott said, adding that an amendment in the bill will calculate how much each child development center will receive.

The bill was advanced by the committee back to the Senate floor on a vote of 5 — 0.

Fees charged for school facilities

Sen. Evie Brennan, R-Cheyenne, who sits on the Senate Education Committee, introduced SF 84, "School facility-use fees," which regulates how much a school district can charge an entity to rent a school facility. The bill was brought forth on concern of school sports and activity groups being charged high rates to use a school facility.

A Cheyenne coach of a local sixth-grade basketball team testified that this is "a huge issue," where his sports team is being charged up $50 per hour to rent a school gym, even more for a football field. The insurance aspect is a bigger problem, he added.

Lloyd Brown, with the Wyoming School Association, said this is a local control issue and should be left up to each of the 48 school districts. Trying to unify this in a bill, he said, is difficult. Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, asked Brown about the insurance issue of renting out school facilities.

"How do we get to the point so that everyone doesn't have to keep paying for layered insurance?" Rothfuss asked.

Brown admitted this was not a strong area of expertise for him. Rothfuss said this has become a "colossal" problem, where schools claim the fees are necessary to cover liability, as advised by their attorneys. Testimony from school district officials advised that the issue with insurance is a complicated liability — not allowing school districts to charge for insurance could risk their ability to rent out school properties.

"The problem with insurance and insurance law and governmental immunity indemnification is complex," said Jed Cicarelli, finance director with Laramie County School District 1.

After much back and forth on the complexities of insurance policies when renting out school properties, Brennan, Rothfuss and Scott decided this was a separate issue best further studied during the interim after the budget session.

Sens. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle, and Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, said the issue shouldn't be as complex as testimony made it out to be and could be resolved with a simple waiver.

The bill was forwarded to the Senate floor on a vote of 4-1, with a no vote coming from Rothfuss.

Charter school funding

Senate President Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, sponsors SF 61,"Education-charter school amendments," which allows charter schools to decide to become a local educational agency (LEA) and clarifies when a state-authorized charter school receives foundation money from its residential district.

Wyoming Department of Education Chief of Staff Dicky Shanor said, because Wyoming lacks a fully staffed state agency to oversee its two charter schools, it's easier for each school to become its own LEA in order to apply for federal funding.

"Allowing them to be their own LEA will enable them to access federal funding easier, more autonomy and flexibility in their school," Shanor said. "It makes more sense to have them be their own LEA for purposes of federal funding."

Discussion of the language in the bill noted by Rothfuss debated whether local schools should also have the option to become an LEA. Scott decided it was best to prepare an amendment under advisory over the weekend and continue the discussion Monday.

Hannah Shields is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's state government reporter. She can be reached at 307-633-3167 or hshields@wyomingnews.com. You can follow her on X @happyfeet004.