School Funding and School Choice were Discussed at the Legislative Roundtable.

This is the second part the two-part story on the Legislative roundtable.

There was standing room only at the board room in the SCSD#2 Central Office on Tuesday night for the SCSD#2 legislative public forum.

At one table, Brandon Finney, SCSD #2 Business Manager, talked about funding and the funding model for Wyoming school teachers.

He also talked about funding the CTE (Career and Technical Education) programs.

He talked about HB021, which was for routine maintenance, and the state would do an adjustment to provide adequate custodians who keep the buildings clean and in good repair. “If you do the daily routine, it will save money on capital construction,” Finney said.

HB0180 deals with mental health funding, Finney said. In this last session the state appropriated ten million dollar, five million over each year of the biennium. This year SCSD#2 received $212,000 to help kids.

There was discussion about how much funding the school receives per student in the district, parent vouchers and other choices where youngsters can go to school.

“We lose enrollment. Each kid is $14,000. Which means we need less resources, but we still have the building to maintain.”

Another table was concerned with school choice, and private school funding included in HB0199. One speaker said that they were not saying that public education was the only way to educate youngsters, but private schools should be privately funded.

Luke Summers who was attending the meeting, had this comment about parent vouchers.

After the meeting, Shane Rader, SCSD#2 Board Chair, commented on the attendance and the participation.

This weekend Rader, Trustee Arin Waddell and Superintendent Scott Stults will go to Cheyenne to meet with the legislators.