Wyoming Department of Education officials told North Dakota’s Special Education Funding Committee that the state's Supreme Court rulings pushed Wyoming to a reimbursement model that covers allowable special‑education costs in full.

Dickie Schaner, chief of staff at the Wyoming Department of Education, said the state "is the only state that reimburses school districts 100% for IEP related services," a model the state traced to a series of school finance court cases originating in Campbell County. Schaner and his colleagues said the rulings focused on the Wyoming Constitution’s requirement for a "uniform, equitable and adequate" public education and that disparities in special‑education support led courts to require reimbursement to ensure equal treatment across districts.

Why it matters: Wyoming’s reimbursement model eliminates much of the local budget risk for extraordinary special‑education expenses, but it also creates a large state budgetary obligation. Wyoming staff told the committee that state special‑education reimbursements rose from roughly $220 million in the mid‑2010s to about $300 million in recent estimates, and the state’s share of revenue for school funding includes property taxes, federal mineral royalties and investment earnings from permanent trusts.

Operational details: Wyoming officials said districts submit documented allowable expenditures for review. The state uses rules to determine eligibility, a data report submitted by districts and periodic audits by the state Department of Audit to check claims. Reimbursements are typically paid on a one‑year lag (districts pay costs up front and the state reimburses the following year).

Questions from the committee and the presenters’ answers addressed capacity and staffing: Wyoming acknowledged management and staffing are ongoing tasks and said the state relies on its Department of Audit for on‑site reviews and has limited staff to process claims. The Wyoming presenters noted that the system has been refined over decades since a major transition to 100% reimbursement in the late 1990s.

What the committee asked: Lawmakers raised concerns about long‑run revenue volatility for Wyoming’s approach and the implications for North Dakota if the state considered shifting to reimbursement. Wyoming officials noted that Wyoming’s revenue mix — especially mineral royalties and investment returns — differs from North Dakota’s, and that the state’s size (about 90,000 K‑12 students) and revenue structure were central to their approach.

Sources: Presentation and slides by Dickie Schaner, Trent Carroll and Leslie Zimmerscheid, Wyoming Department of Education (comments and Q&A recorded in committee transcript).