Leading educators may play a larger role in solving state's education funding problems

Lawmakers asked a group of leading Wyoming educators, including Natrona County School District Superintendent Steve Hopkins, to create a proposal to examine the state’s system for funding schools. Although the proposal was ultimately rejected, it signals that educators may play a larger role in solving Wyoming’s education funding problems.

It’s also possible that the educators will have more input in the conversation once a consultant hired by the state begins work.

Legislators decided in March to initiate recalibration, a process in which consultants are hired to look at the state’s educational system and settle on an amount of money to pay for it. That last happened in 2015 and wasn’t supposed to begin again until 2020, but a looming shortfall — estimated to reach $530 million in the coming years — pushed lawmakers to accelerate the timeline.

A request for proposals from potential consultants was released in May, and lawmakers asked state educational stakeholders — a group that includes Hopkins, Wyoming School Board Association executive director Brian Farmer, Wyoming Association of School Business Officials head Travis Sweeney and soon-to-be leader of the Wyoming Association of School Administrators Kevin Mitchell — to file a response.

Read more: http://trib.com/news/local/education/leading-educators-may-play-a-larger-role-in-solving-state/article_0d17d6f9-0382-5d3e-b7bb-639d6a0e2e36.html