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Committee hears teachers' pay and benefits lag neighboring states; consultants to update salary and benefits estimates
Summary
Committee members were told teacher salaries and health-benefit funding in Wyoming may be insufficient to recruit and retain staff; consultants and department staff will provide district-by-district salary schedule data and a proposed methodology for modeling benefits.
Wyoming’s current evidence-based funding model may underfund teacher pay and employee benefits, consultants and department staff told the Select Committee on School Finance.
Dr. Pikes explained that personnel costs — especially teacher salaries — represent the largest portion of district budgets and underpin the adequacy estimate. "Salaries or personnel costs represent something on the order of 80% of school district budgets," Dr. Pikes said. He told the committee that districts are commonly paying higher salaries than the model currently funds and that the model’s average-teacher salary calculation differs from districts’ local salary schedules.
What the committee heard - Salary schedule mechanics: The model starts from a statewide average and adjusts for experience and education. The Department of Education re-computes district averages annually; consultants can provide district-level estimates and how regional cost adjustment affects those amounts. - Health insurance: The model currently uses the state health-insurance plan to estimate employer costs and (in the model) funds employees who take the insurance; consultants said their view is the model should provide funding for all employees (including those who decline coverage because of spouse coverage or part-time status). - Retirement: The funding model includes a pension allocation roughly matching state employees (12.69% employer share plus an additional employer reimbursement outside the model of about 2.25%); transcript references an employee share of about 3%.
Data and follow-up Committee members requested district salary schedules and a special data collection on health benefits; department staff said districts are beginning a collection window for the 2025–26 salary schedules and that the committee can expect updated data in coming months. "It would be helpful for the public and even the employees themselves to see what the model says based on their level of attainment, what the matrix says versus what the district is paying them," Senator Beitman said.
Caveats Consultants noted policy choices remain: whether to fund every employee’s insurance regardless of enrollment, how to treat base versus average salary when applying an ECA, and whether the state must follow court precedent (Campbell and other rulings) in particular adjustments.
Ending The committee directed staff to request the special collections and asked consultants to produce updated salary and benefits estimates for the committee’s September review.
