After the Senate and the House concluded their business Tuesday night, the work continued, as amendments to the budget were due, Tuesday. Those amendments were the primary focus of business Wednesday.
It is important to note that at the time of this writing, most of these amendments have not yet been heard.
While some of these amendments are potentially detrimental to education and education funding, the work to stop these bills will begin
after
they are introduced, if they pass their introductory vote.
Discussion began Wednesday morning around Amendment 1 to
SF 1 General government appropriations
. This amendment brought by members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senators Bebout, Agar, Hicks, Kinskey, and Gierau reduces the external cost adjustment to one-year funding instead of two. This proposed amendment also attempts to reduce the amount appropriated to school districts for school employee health insurance, which would translate into an increased health insurance cost to teachers, administrators, and paraprofessionals across the state. This amendment passed the Senate this morning, 27-3.
Stern objections were made by Sen. Rothfuss that the amendment was too large and encompassed too many amendments, each of which deserved to be heard individually. Unfortunately, those objections fell on deaf ears, and the response by members of the Senate and the sponsors of the amendment were that each provision would get time during third reading to be addressed.
The Wyoming Education Association actively lobbied several Senators to kill the amendment, also to no avail. The WEA Lobby Team will continue to lobby and attempt to restore the ECA to the original two-year funding levels and ensure that contributions to school districts for health insurance are restored to levels that pose no detriment to educators, administrators, and paraprofessionals.
|
|
New displays went up in the Capitol building, Wednesday. The Governor's Capitol Art Exhibition was curated by the Wyoming State Museum and features Wyoming artists from across the state. A reception hosted by the Governor will be held in the Capitol, Friday, April 24 from 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm.
|
|
School Capital Construction accounts were the focus of other cuts in the budget. Senators Bo Biteman and Charlie Scott proposed Amendment 36, which reduces the amount allocated for school capital construction for the following schools, in the following amounts:
· -$34 million – Lincoln #2, Laramie #1 – Elementary School Design and Construction
· -$25 million – Lincoln #1, Washakie #2, Albany #1 – Elementary/Alt. School Design and Construction
· -$1 million – Laramie #1, Sweetwater #1 – Demolition projects
· -$12 million – Teton #1, Fremont #25 – Middle School Design and Construction
The WEA lobbying team will be monitoring the reading of this proposed amendment Wednesday night and will make additional information available in Thursday’s Legislative Update.
Finally, another amendment from the members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senators Bebout, Agar, Hicks, Kinskey, and Gierau put forward proposed Amendment 43, which asks for each agency and department to cut 1.5% from their standing budget. While this would not impact the School Foundation Program, it would impact the Department of Education, with a potential reduction of roughly $5 million.
Amendments from House of Representatives member, Chuck Gray included proposed amendments for vouchers for charter schools.
The Wyoming Education Association will continue to monitor these proposed amendments and lobby to correct those threatening detriment to Wyoming students and educators.
|
|
|
|
Please be aware that the Wyoming Education Association is only as strong as its membership.
WEA may call on you to cyber lobby your senators and representatives through wealegislativeinfo.com.
It is vitally important that your voices are heard, as well as ours. We will be sending action alerts to ask for your help in reaching out to Senators and Representatives.
Thank you.
|
|
President Kathy Vetter interviewing with 1240AM KFBC's Reece Monaco Wednesday morning. President Vetter's on-air interview is now available at wealegislativeinfo.com! Click the graphic or button below to listen!
|
|
The Senate worked into the evening Tuesday, focusing specifically on a Senate bill proposed by Sen. Affie Ellis, which moved out of the Senate Education Committee last week and passed the Committee of the Whole, the day prior.
SF 15 Absenteeism and truancy
is well-intentioned but has run into trouble in a few areas, specifically the penalties portion of the bill.
When the bill was introduced, Sen. Ellis removed a portion of the existing penalty language, stating that parents who “willfully fail, neglect, or refuse to comply” with the provisions of the bill may be subject to fines, probation, and penalties including periods of imprisonment. Sen. Ellis recognized the egregious nature of this language and its disproportionate impact and removed the ‘imprisonment’ provision of the bill’s language.
Testimony was received during the committee hearing that if the intent is to allow for probation as a potential penalty, there—legally—must be the threat of imprisonment of some length of time. To comply with this requirement and to ensure that probation was still an option available for recourse, the language was added back into the bill, however not without stern objection.
This issue took center stage last night on the Senate floor as they debated these provisions and the bill as a whole.
Ultimately, the bill passed.
|
|
See detailed movement, outlook, priorities and summaries for education bills throughout the 2020 Budget Session via the WEA Bill Tracker
|
|
|
|
|
From the Capitol to the Classroom, Stay Informed With WEA!
|
Join our unified voice for public education! Explore WEA's Legislative Affairs website at
wealegislativeinfo.com
There you will
find
:
- Information about current bills before the Wyoming Legislature;
- Talking points on critical issues facing Wyoming educators;
- Ways to take action in support of public education;
- Contact information for your legislator.
|
|
WEA makes it easy to take action! Sign up for daily legislative updates throughout the 2020 Budget Session. Stay in the know about key policy issues and receive alerts when it's time to cyber lobby your legislators around bills affecting Wyoming education. Visit www.wealegislativeinfo.com.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
