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Dear Casper,
Our legislators are failing us all, and they know it.
This year, the Wyoming legislature voted to burden our public schools with a $686 million funding deficit through property tax cuts without a plan to make up for that loss. They also passed legislation to allow public dollars to be pulled from public institutions and instead used for private education.
Additionally, despite the overwhelming evidence that Wyoming’s economy is not adequately diversified, lawmakers continue to fail to support economic development that would sustainably attract young families to the state. Boom and bust cycles hit and the global economy continues to move away from some of the industries we have over-relied on to support our state. As a result, young families go, school enrollment declines, and so does the funding that comes with it.
On top of these local leadership failures, the state faces $50 million in royalty losses annually from increased federal subsidies to the coal industry as part of the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
All of these factors converge to dramatically underfund and undermine public education, our children, and our state’s future. Our lawmakers know this, and they are only making it worse. They are intentionally stripping our schools, our families, and our children of the resources that are necessary to ensure individuals can thrive into adulthood and that we have stable, accessible economies across the state.
This week the School Finance Recalibration Committee met in Casper. The committee seems prepared to take the critical step to increase teacher salaries. This is essential and not enough. Despite testimony that strongly reflected the value of school resource officers, school counselors, and food services, the committee is not planning to increase support to any of them. This is despite the judicial finding earlier this year that lawmakers have routinely underfunded our public education system for decades.
Our state Constitution mandates that our public schools are adequately funded to provide a quality and equitable education to all Wyoming students. This is good for children, families, and the state overall. Only the legislature can make the necessary decisions to fulfill this mandate. They aren’t. It’s time to vote them out for those who will.
Writing in solidarity for a better Wyoming future,
Jai-Ayla Sutherland
Casper
