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Consultants describe professional-judgment panels, public outreach and next steps for recalibration
Summary
Pikes Adnan Associates consultants told the Select Committee that the recalibration effort used professional judgment panels across the state, that participation was higher than in a prior Colorado project and that the team plans further panels after a draft recalibration report.
CASPER, Wyo. — Consultants leading Wyoming’s recalibration work told the Select Committee on School Finance on June 18 that the process emphasized outreach through professional judgment panels (PJPs), desk audits and data requests to gather local practice and cost information for an evidence-based funding model.
What consultants said
- Larry Pikes, a principal at Pikes Adnan Associates, told the committee the firm conducted eight professional judgment panels earlier in the project, sometimes with as many as 30 participants. He said participants included teachers, principals, superintendents and school business officials and that the panels provided practical, locality-based feedback on how the model operates in districts.
- Pikes described the PJPs as largely open-forum sessions in which the team provided participants with the desk audit and a summary of the evidence-based model, then asked four core questions: what works well, what doesn’t, how to improve it, and where to find efficiencies. He said the panels also addressed the six components referenced in the court decision the committee is recalibrating to respond to.
- The consultants plan additional outreach. Pikes said the team intends to hold eight more panels after a draft report is issued: four regionally in person and four online, to validate proposed changes and gather reactions to specific recommendations.
- Mike Griffith, a school finance consultant with the team, told the committee he will prepare comparative state summaries on topics the panel requested — for example, funding of student activities, extended- and summer-learning programs, professional development days, and whether other states use statewide insurance pools for facilities or health insurance.
Why it matters: Recalibration is a fact-intensive process. The consultants said the panels and the planned follow-up sessions aim to collect operational details and local judgment that cannot be captured in aggregate data alone.
Ending
Consultants asked the committee for feedback on additional topics to research and confirmed they will return with state comparisons, updated tables of student-activity funding, extended-learning program examples, and sample professional-development structures from other states.
