Lawsuit alleging Wyoming unconstitutionally underfunds schools heading for trial

Wednesday’s decision by Judge Peter Froelicher stymies the state’s latest attempt to avoid having the merits of the case tried in court. In December 2022, Laramie County District Court denied the state’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

This time, Wyoming’s lawyers asked the judge to rule for the state against some of WEA’s claims before the trial takes place. It filed that motion in February, and a flurry of responses have been submitted to the court since. Among them was a motion for partial summary judgment by the eight districts. The judge also dismissed that motion in his Wednesday ruling.

In a Friday release, WEA President Grady Hutcherson said time is of the essence in this matter — Wyoming is already losing talented education professionals to other states that offer better salaries and working conditions. Low wages and unfair workloads are contributing to “record turnovers” in Wyoming school districts, according to a press release from WEA, which represents the state’s teachers, but is not an actual union.

“Students and educators are suffering because of underfunding,” Hutcherson said.

The case is scheduled for a five-week bench trial starting in June.

History

The 2022 complaint essentially contends the Legislature has failed to fulfill its constitutional obligation to adequately fund a high-quality, equitable, cost-based public education system. It’s done this, according to the suit, by failing to grant periodic external cost adjustments and underfunding the state’s education model.

Article 7 of the Wyoming Constitution states that the Legislature “shall provide for the establishment and maintenance of a complete and uniform system of public instruction.”

Court interpretations of cases challenging the state’s model have resulted in a system where the Legislature “recalibrates” — or assesses changes in school costs and inflationary demands — at least every five years, and adjusts for inflation annually.

State education spending has increased from $443 million, or $4,372 per student in 1985, to 1.5 billion, or $16,751 per student, in 2022, according to the Legislative Service Office.

But students and educators are suffering because of underfunding, the Wyoming Education Association contends.

Intervening school districts include Albany County School District 1; Campbell County School District 1; Carbon County School District 1; Laramie County School District 1; Lincoln County School District 1; Sweetwater County School District 1; Sweetwater County School District 2; and Uinta County School District 1.

Allegations

WEA and the districts assert the Legislature is violating the Wyoming Constitution in several ways.

WEA alleges the Legislature has failed to adjust the amount of funding to reflect the effects of inflation; failed to properly assess school facilities for adequacy, technology and suitability; and failed to properly review the components of a quality education. The state has not updated the funding model to reflect actual, current costs and to provide funding for any innovations or changes in the nature of what constitutes a quality education, the WEA claims.

In similar claims, the districts suggest the Legislature isn’t adequately funding all essential aspects of a quality public education, including staff salaries, counseling services, nutrition and food services and security.

The result, according to court filings, is that Wyoming’s public education is constitutionally inadequate, with unequal and disparate treatment of various school districts and students.

If WEA and the districts prevail, the court could require the Legislature to upgrade the school finance model’s salary schedule; add funding to the model to cover missing components of an adequate public education and/or establish a funding source for school buildings.

Previous challenges

Along with its motions for dismissal and partial summary judgment, Wyoming in 2023 asked the Wyoming Supreme Court to intervene in the case regarding the level of scrutiny appropriate for determining the outcome.

The Supreme Court upheld the district court’s decision that “strict scrutiny” shall be applied, denying the state’s petition for a lesser standard.

In explaining the latest decision, Froelicher’s order said that to gain summary judgment, Wyoming had to show there is no genuine dispute over material facts in the case.

Instead, “the parties’ statements of undisputed material facts rarely agree,” the decision reads.