Teachers seek cost adjustment

"Seven thousand teachers, if we lose it, it's our own fault," Kindergarten Teacher Cindy Brandjord said about the state's teachers.

Brandjord is one of many teachers in Sweetwater County School District No. 2 concerned about the upcoming legislative session and discussion about an external cost adjustment within the legislature's school funding model.

One of the adjustments would result in teachers across the state receiving a cost of living allocation to help them keep up with inflationary pressures occurring in areas like southwestern Wyoming.

According to Pete Brandjord, business manager for the school district, the last internal cost adjustment occurred during the 2010-2011 fiscal year. He said the initial recommendation from the Wyoming Legislature's Joint Education Committee regarding professional staff's external cost adjustment was 2.7 percent. However, the legislature's Joint Appropriations Committee cut that to zero, which Brandjord said was based upon a Montana consultant's opinion that teacher salaries were adequate.

Facing another year of raising inflation without a pay increase to help offset that inflation, Cindy Brandjord and the Green River Education Association hopes to galvanize teachers to make their voices heard during the upcoming legislative session in Cheyenne.

According to House District 60 Representative John Freeman, the problem is both simple, yet complex.

He said the initial model the legislature uses to fund schools is based off recommendations given to the legislature by consultants hired to study how much funding schools need. According to Freeman, 10 years ago, the consultants delivered a funding formula that wasn't widely supported, but was left unchanged.

The legislature decided to add $100 million to that model to help school districts attain the legislature's goals of having more technology in classrooms while aiming for a 16-1 student to teacher ratio.

One of the shortfalls the model has, Freeman said, is many of the items funded through the model aren't compensated for inflationary increases. This problem results in districts losing their buying power and making decisions as to what they can fund.

Teacher salaries aren't the only things affected by the cost adjustment. Sweetwater County School District No. 2 has lost an estimated $5 million due to inflation.

Other problems associated with the model include it not funding school counselors or school resource officers, requiring districts to allocate funds to those position from other sources.

Freeman said the Joint Education Committee he serves on isn't comprised of heartless legislative members, but people tasked with keeping the financial aspect of the model in order. However, in his experience, the JEC has also resisted discussion about a cost adjustments up until recently.

"I think the JEC is Dr. No because the only answer they have to questions is 'no,'" Freeman said.

A coalition of school districts Sweetwater County School District No. 2 is a member of was placed on the JEC's Oct. 23 agenda to discuss an external cost adjustment, while previous attempts to discuss the adjustment or hear public comment on the issue were denied.

The committee voted 10-3 to forward the adjustment recommendations to the Joint Appropriations Committee, voting against the committee's leadership in doing so.

Sen. John Hastert, who sits on the Joint Appropriations Committee, said part of the issue is people don't always understand what the problem is.

He said one member of the JAC wanted to call it a merit-based pay increase and not an inflation-based increase, a designation Hastert argued against.

The administration and school board representing the district are supportive of the cost adjustment for their staff.

"I think it's disrespectful not to give professional staff any increase," Superintendent Donna Little Kaumo said.

Board Chairman Steve Core said the GREA and other organizations need to speak up to the legislature if they want the cost adjustment.

"If you want to get that cost adjustment we haven't had in four years, you need to speak up," he said. "The time is now ... you got to speak up."