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As the brother of a recent graduate from the University of Wyoming鈥檚 College of Education, Rep. Landon Brown (R-Cheyenne) has seen firsthand how lagging teacher salaries in Wyoming affect the state鈥檚 pool of educators. 

鈥淭he offer that he received from Arizona was $22,000 more a year than what he was offered for any school district here in the state of Wyoming, including Cheyenne, where his home was,鈥� Brown told his colleagues on the Joint Education Committee Thursday. 

鈥淗e picked up and moved to the state of Arizona, where he鈥檚 going to pay income tax, because he can make $22,000 more a year,鈥� he continued. 

In the face of such anecdotes, as well as empirical evidence that Wyoming is , the Joint Education Committee recommended an 8.5% 鈥渆xternal cost adjustment,鈥� or temporary increase in funding, for teacher and other school staff salaries for the 2025-26 school year. The body voted 11-1 to recommend the increase.

The recommendation, which also includes shifts in funding for school materials and utilities, would increase funding by approximately $66.4 million in total. That would bring the funding in alignment with Wyoming鈥檚 鈥渆vidence-based model.鈥� That funding model was implemented after the Wyoming Supreme Court in 1995 declared the state鈥檚 K-12 school finance system unconstitutional for failing to 鈥減rovide for the establishment and maintenance of a complete and uniform system of public instruction.鈥� The new formula relies on consultants using complex economic data to periodically define appropriate funding levels instead of elected officials. 

The pay bump still has hurdles to clear. The Appropriations Committee will make its own recommendation on the matter to Gov. Mark Gordon by Nov. 1. 

But the Education Committee鈥檚 decision could represent a response to critics who say Wyoming has lost its ability to recruit and retain quality educators because it hasn鈥檛 kept up with the high relative pay it once offered. 

Background 

Wyoming periodically 鈥渞ecalibrates鈥� how much the state is willing to spend on education and how the funds should be split 鈥� a complicated undertaking done with the help of consultants. The next recalibration is scheduled for 2025.

During the non-recalibration years, lawmakers decide whether inflation and cost models demand an external cost adjustment to appropriately fund staff, supplies and utilities. Any changes are then reflected in Wyoming鈥檚 Educational Block Grant Funding, a spending measure approved by the Legislature.

The committee鈥檚 discussion last week honed in on pay for teachers and other school staff. 

In 2010, teaching salaries in Wyoming were about 25% higher than salaries in adjacent states, according to a  by economics researcher Christiana Stoddard. But over the next decade, the state鈥檚 average teacher wage didn鈥檛 increase much, going from $59,268 in 2012 to $60,650 in 2020, the report states. 

Today, Wyoming still exceeds many Western states for teacher pay, but its edge has slipped. It鈥檚 ranked No. 26 in the nation for its average teacher salary of  $61,979, 

Teacher pay in surrounding states is creeping up, Stoddard told the committee Thursday, including in Utah, which now surpasses Wyoming. Teaching wages have also fallen relative to salaries in other comparable occupations in the state, she said. 

鈥淐ost pressures matter because they affect the quality of teachers, and we know that teacher quality makes an enormous difference in terms of student outcomes,鈥� Stoddard said. Many Wyoming school districts, she said, have opted to hire fewer personnel at a higher pay to remain competitive. 

Stoddard noted another concerning trend: 鈥渁 pretty sharp drop in the number of bachelor鈥檚 degrees from the University of Wyoming who are graduating in teaching.鈥� UW has been a major source of new teachers to Wyoming schools.

In an effort to sustain teaching levels, districts are coming up with creative solutions. Wyoming reported 190 teachers using emergency or provisional credentials and four teachers working outside their licensed subject area for the 2021-22 school year, according to a Learning Policy Institute  on the state of the teacher workforce. 

Keeping constitutional 

After listening to reports on the state of school funding Thursday, Sen. Chris Rothfuss (D-Laramie) made a motion to recommend an external cost adjustment that includes the 8.5% increase for both professional and non-professional staff. 

The total $66.4-million difference in the funding that adjustment would represent is 鈥渘ot an arbitrary number,鈥� Rothfuss said. 

Instead, it鈥檚 the figure legislative staff identified to ensure Wyoming follows its constitutional mandates, he said. 鈥淚t is the amount that it takes to make a constitutional, statutory model equivalent to the evidence-based model.鈥� 

Sheridan County School District 1 Business Manager Jeremy Smith encouraged the 8.5% recommendation. The conversation leading to it, he said, had a consistent theme: high teaching salaries can attract quality candidates even when they have alternate employment opportunities. 

One only has to look at the University of Wyoming graduation data to see that Wyomingites are being dissuaded from the profession, Smith said. He also pointed to a 2022 survey conducted by the University of Wyoming鈥檚 College of Education and the Wyoming Education Association that found 65% of Wyoming鈥檚 teachers would quit if they could. 

鈥淭eachers aren鈥檛 very satisfied in their profession right now for a whole host of reasons, but one is certainly salary,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to give the ECA, it鈥檚 got to be substantial and substantive in order to turn the ship around.鈥�

Sen. Charles Scott (R-Casper) was the sole lawmaker to protest, calling the adjustment 鈥渙ut of line.鈥� 

Rep. Brown of Cheyenne, meanwhile, spoke in support of it, saying that failing to sustain external cost adjustments has already proven to be unwise. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e not funding our school districts with the valuable resources they need to teach these kids,鈥� he said before the committee passed the recommendation. 

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