The Select Committee on School Facilities received a summary of 2025 legislation that will change how Wyoming funds, maintains and plans for K–12 school facilities.

The summary, presented by Ashley Phillips and Tanya Heitrich of the Legislative Service Office, said two bills sponsored by the select committee were enacted (chapter 89 and chapter 145), and other bills affecting capital construction and charter school leasing also passed. The enacted bills change lease reimbursement calculations, adjust routine and major maintenance formulas for school year 2025–26, and direct new capital planning and reporting duties for the State Construction Department.

Why it matters: the package alters money school districts and charter schools will receive for facilities and tasks the State Construction Department must perform. That affects how districts budget for maintenance, how charter school lease reimbursements are calculated, and how the state prioritizes future capital work.

Major provisions summarized to the committee

- Chapter 89 (K–12 school facilities leasing): amends lease reimbursement so the state pays the lesser of the total lease amount or the average cost per square foot for comparable facilities multiplied by the allowable educational square footage.

- Chapter 145 (K–12 school facilities maintenance and appropriations): for school year 2025–26 only, raised allowable square foot multipliers (from 115% to 135% of the School Facilities Commission adequacy standards) and increased the cost-replacement multiplier from 2% to 2.5% beginning in school year 2025–26; appropriated $38,100,000 for increased major-maintenance payments and directed the Department of Education to allocate routine-maintenance increases.

- Chapter 118 (K–12 school facilities appropriations): appropriated targeted sums including $29,800,000 for component-level projects, roughly $14,400,000 for construction and demolition of Campbell County transportation facilities, and approximately $150,000,000 for design, construction, site preparation and demolition of a Kimball-area high school (of which $20,000,000 was effective immediately and the remainder effective March 15, 2026); reappropriated up to $13,400,000 for inflationary costs on approved projects and directed a study by the State Construction Department and School Facilities Commission on the department’s authority over K–12 major-maintenance projects, with a report due Oct. 1 to Joint Appropriations and the Select Committee beginning 2025 through 2031.

- Chapter 12 (Public Property and Buildings amendments): requires the State Construction Department to develop a 20-year strategic plan, monitor and report on capital construction and maintenance, and standardize definitions and processes for state building construction.

- Chapter 24 (charter school leasing): repealed the prior requirement that charter schools wait until the State Construction Department determined no adequate or available district space existed before receiving lease reimbursement.

What did not pass: two bills sponsored by the select committee—House Bill 21 (routine-maintenance worker calculation) and House Bill 142 (a supplemental K–12 facilities appropriation)—were not enacted. Committee members were told HB 21's technical change to the maintenance-worker formula was not picked up in the appropriations rewrite and that the legislature preferred to address the change in the planned recalibration work instead.

Outlook: committee staff and agency presenters said the statutory and appropriation changes will require the department and districts to update calculations and planning documents. The committee directed staff to draft a preliminary budget bill based on the State Construction Department’s forthcoming commission recommendations so members can review those figures in August before the October budget work.