Senate committee restricts use of K–12 major maintenance funds, allows grandfathering for projects in progress

The Wyoming Senate Education Committee on Feb. 5 passed Senate File 156, a bill that restricts how school districts may use state major maintenance dollars and requires reporting and grandfathering for projects already underway, sending the measure to the full Senate 3–2.

Sponsor Senator Eric Driscoll said the bill was aimed at ensuring “when we say major maintenance, we mean major maintenance,” and that the change would prevent districts from using the state-funded major maintenance program to finance new buildings or other enhancements going forward. The committee approved an amendment to allow districts to finish projects whose planning, design or construction expenditures occurred before the bill’s effective date and required districts to report amounts transferred from the foundation program that were used on such projects.

The bill sets a limit on how major maintenance grants and foundation-program transfers may be used, and draws a clear line between state-funded major maintenance and locally funded enhancements. Under the amendment the committee adopted, a district may complete a project in progress if it made planning, design or construction expenditures before the act’s effective date, and…