District warns state recalibration will restrict spending, reduce some funding and force hard budget choices

Albany County School District #1 staff told the Board of Trustees at their May 6 work session that Wyomings recalibration effort (Senate File 81) is a "major restructuring" that changes not only funding levels but how districts may spend those funds, creating new compliance, reporting and fiscal risks for the district.

"This is a major restructuring of of how Wyoming funds its school districts now," said Miss Green, who led the budget presentation. She said the state replaced some flexible block-grant authority with more prescriptive categories, including an instructional ``silo'' that requires certain funds be spent only on instructional salaries or placed in a silo reserve and that unspent silo money can be reclaimed by the state after three years.

Miss Green walked trustees through the funding model basics (ADM, average daily membership, differs from enrollment), described changes to class-size and prototypical school-size assumptions, and flagged the un-colocation of Rock River (now treated as one K-12 school) as a local funding loss. She said the change from a three-year to a two-year rolling ADM average and higher prototypical school sizes contributed to lower funding in multiple categories.

The presenter said the recalibration added reporting burdens and WDE oversight and shifted some previously model-covered benefits outside the model. Retirement reimbursements will move outside the model into monthly reimbursements and employees will see retirement increases borne by employees unless otherwise addressed. Health insurance reimbursements are being treated more like actuals with monthly true-ups, creating uncertainty about how much the state will ultimately reimburse.

Trustees asked for specifics on several points. On athletics and activities funding, Miss Green said the district expects about $300,000 less this year compared with prior funding levels once the two-year rolling ADM change is applied. On instructional funding, she said the district currently projects roughly $1.7 million remaining in the instructional silo after meeting the models average salary test, and that the board must decide how much of that to convert to staff or programs within silo rules.

Miss Green also warned that the states recent guidance would take 50% of interest earned in district funds and return it to the state; she described that as legally questionable and estimated the district earned about $700,000 across all funds through April, meaning a possible $350,000 reduction if applied. She told trustees that capital and major-maintenance funds are restricted from being used to cover other needs under the recalibration.

To offset new constraints and revenue shifts, Miss Green said she will propose an amendment at the June board meeting to transfer pre-1997 reserves into the food service program so free meals can be guaranteed for the next two years. She also indicated the district is planning to use cash reserves to cover underfunded categories (special education, transportation and major maintenance) as it evaluates the budget through the summer.

District staff presented proposed salary schedules that will appear on the boards consent agenda next week. Staff said the certified starting salary on the proposed 2026-27 schedule would be $63,500 (roughly a $12,000 increase from the previously approved schedule), classified hourly rates would rise by $2 an hour per Meet-and-Confer recommendations, and administrative and other schedules were increased modestly. A staff presenter said the certified schedule change would help recruiting and that the district intends to advertise openings at the new rates.

No formal board votes were recorded at the work session; several items (salary schedules, budget details and a late property offer) were placed on the business meeting agenda for the following week.