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2005 General Session
HB 185 would have provided additional funding to school districts in Wyoming to increase teacher salaries and to provide additional professional development and training opportunities for school district employees. The salary increases would have been for the 2005-2006 school year, and the development and training opportunities would have been offered during this year.
As introduced, HB 185 would have appropriated $45.2 million from the school foundation program account to pay for the salary increases and increased training opportunities. School districts could only have used the extra money for salary increases and training, and would have been prohibited from using it to increase the number of school district employees.
Supporters believed that a substantial salary increase for Wyoming teachers was needed to help keep Wyoming's teachers working in the state, and to help school districts recruit the best new teachers. They compared Wyoming's teacher salary ranges with surrounding states and noted that salaries in Wyoming have slipped relative to other states in recent years.
Opponents thought the salary increase cost too much, and thought we should wait until the school funding model is re-evaluated next year and then make any needed adjustments during next year's budget session instead of adding any more funding for teacher salaries now.
The House Education Committee passed HB 185 8-1, with Representative Lorraine Quarberg (R-H28, Thermopolis) casting the only NO vote. The full House dropped authorization to spend the new money on staff development and training, and reduced the total appropriation for the bill down to $28.4 million, which equated to a salary increase of $2000 per employee for next year. Thus amended, the bill passed the House unanimously.
The Senate Education Committee passed the bill 3-2, with Senators Tex Boggs (D-S13, Rock Springs), Bob Peck (R-S26, Riverton) and Charles Townsend (R-S1, Newcastle) voting YES on the bill, while Senators Hank Coe (R-S18, Cody) and Kit Jennings (R-S28, Casper) voted NO. The Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously passed HB 185, but the bill was pocket vetoed by Senate Majority Floor Leader John Schiffer (R-S22, Kaycee) when he did not schedule the bill for debate and a vote by the Senate Committee of the Whole.
However, the House had also included $28.4 million in its supplemental budget bill. The Senate had not included additional funding for education employees in its budget bill, but the budget bill that was negotiated in conference committee and ultimately accepted by both the House and Senate did include $22.7 million for one-year salary increases for K-12 education employees. Discretion on how to distribute the extra money was left up to school districts, but if evenly distributed between employees, the extra funding equates to about $1600 per employee for the coming year.