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Between now and the Wyoming Legislature’s next session, you might hear strange terms like “recalibration” and “basket of goods” thrown around in conversations about how the state funds our K-12 public schools.
Here, we breaks down some basic questions about what these terms mean, why they matter, and how understanding them can help you advocate for the public system designed to educate all Wyoming’s children.
What is “recalibration”?
Recalibration is the process the Legislature uses to determine how much money school districts need to provide students with a quality and equitable education.
Lawmakers examine what it currently costs to deliver a modern education—teachers, books, computers, etc.—and then they “recalibrate” the formula that the state uses to allocate money to school districts.
Why does the process take place?
Short answer:
Because the Wyoming Supreme Court forces the Legislature to do it.
Long answer:
The Wyoming Constitution contains clear language that requires the Legislature to adequately fund “a thorough and efficient system of public schools that is uniform and available to all students.”
However, the Legislature has regularly disobeyed the state Constitution and failed to adequately fund K-12 schools.
As a result, public school districts and the Wyoming Education Association have sued the Legislature several times over the past 40 years.
The Legislature has lost every single one of these court cases, with the Wyoming Supreme Court ruling that the level of funding the Legislature provides violates the Constitution.
As a remedy, the Court has ordered the Legislature to undergo the “recalibration” process as a way to carefully examine how much money school districts need so the state can fund them accordingly.
What, exactly, does the “recalibration” process look like?
- Legislative leadership appoints a “Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration.”
- The Recalibration Committee hires outside consultants to go over all the different aspects of the state’s K-12 education system, see how much things cost and how much money districts currently receive, compare our system to other states’, and take into account any new laws that have passed.
- The committee holds a series of public meetings to review the consultants’ findings and hear from education experts, public school workers, and members of the general public.
- The committee crafts a bill to propose during the next legislative session.
- During the session, the Legislature can amend, adopt, or reject the bill.
A recalibration bill requires a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers to pass. If the bill fails, the state will maintain its current funding model.
When does all this happen?
A Recalibration Committee is typically convened every five years (although sometimes it’s more often).
The committee’s work takes place during the “interim” between legislative sessions.
This go-round, the Recalibration Committee will hold public meetings on these dates:
- June 17 - 18, Casper
- Sept. 4 - 5, Casper
- Oct. 28 - 29, Casper
- Jan. 22 - 23, Cheyenne
Why are they talking about a “basket of goods”?
The recalibration process aims to look at how much it actually costs to provide students a quality education.
But what makes up a “quality education”? What do students need in order to really have one?
Lawmakers and other people involved in the recalibration process use a funny shorthand term for this: “basket of goods.”
Currently, Wyoming law says that the “basket” contains 10 “goods”:
- Science
- Mathematics
- Language arts
- Health
- Fine & performing arts
- Physical education
- Social studies
- Career & vocational education
- Foreign language
- Computer science
So, when lawmakers talk about “delivering the basket of goods” to students, they mean educating students in these 10 areas.
What’s up with these consultants? What do they do?
School finance is complex and highly politicized. It is also hard for Wyoming lawmakers to see how our state’s funding system compares nationally without the experience of looking at how other states handle it.
In order to base the recalibration process on unbiased, informed facts, the Legislature hires specialized consultants who do this kind of work for states across America.
These consultants examine the true market cost of delivering the “basket of goods” to Wyoming children, compare our model to other states’, and report their findings and recommendations to the recalibration committee.
The consultants craft their recommendations according to directives from the Wyoming Supreme Court.
Wyoming has used the same consultant firm, Picus Odden and Associates, since 2000.
Does the recalibration committee follow the consultants’ recommendations?
Not really. Even though the consultants craft their recommendations according to directions from the Wyoming Supreme Court, lawmakers often entirely ignore or sidestep them.
This is why the Legislature is constantly getting sued for underfunding education.
Lawmakers may pass a recalibration bill based partially on the consultants’ recommendations, but there has not been a plan universally accepted since recalibration began in 2000.
What have been the past outcomes of recalibration?
School expenses generally increase every five years, but many legislators mainly view recalibration as an opportunity to cut school funding.
When consultants recommend increased funding for schools, lawmakers typically reject those recommendations and decrease funding anyway.
In 2017, for instance, during an economic bust, the Legislature convened a special recalibration committee to examine a dramatic funding shortfall for K-12 education.
The consultants recommended spending $70 million more per year than the state already did. The recalibration committee unanimously rejected that advice.
Instead, lawmakers cut K-12 school funding by nearly $30 million in 2018, part of a $100 million spending reduction over two years.
Why is this year’s recalibration especially important?
School districts and the Wyoming Education Association are once again suing the Legislature over inadequate school funding.
Earlier this year, a district court judge ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor, finding that the state failed to fulfill its constitutional duty to adequately fund K-12 public schools. The case is now headed to the Wyoming Supreme Court.
The judge noted that because 2025 is a recalibration year, “there is an excellent window of opportunity to address these issues.”
Meanwhile, however, the Legislature remains under the control of the far-right Freedom Caucus, which aims to tear down our public education system. The recalibration committee is stacked with Freedom Caucus members and their allies, and Freedom Caucus leaders have publicly stated that they aim to use recalibration to defund Wyoming public schools.
How does the outcome of recalibration affect our students, teachers, and schools?
Recalibration has a huge impact on Wyoming’s local school districts and the students they strive to educate.
Meeting the state’s constitutional duty to fund schools means giving every student the opportunity to thrive, regardless of their background or circumstance.
Adequately funding our K-12 school system means giving school districts the ability to attract, retain, and support quality educators, and giving teachers the resources they need to reach every student.
On the other hand, when lawmakers ignore the constitution and underfund our schools, they rob our communities of the promise of public education and our children of a brighter future.