HB0018 revises Wyoming’s school finance system to create a new, formula-based funding stream for career and technical education (CTE) supplies, materials, and equipment beginning in the 2025-2026 school year. Instead of relying primarily on the prior CTE equipment grant structure, the bill directs the Department of Education to distribute annual CTE funding to districts based on the number of full-time equivalent CTE teachers in grades 9-12, with a minimum allocation for schools with fewer than two FTE CTE teachers. The bill also requires districts to report staffing and spending data, and it limits the use of these funds to CTE supplies, materials, and equipment.
The bill makes conforming changes to existing statutes governing CTE demonstration project grants and equipment grants so those programs do not overlap with the new funding mechanism. It repeals obsolete provisions tied to the old model, updates references in the education resource block grant model, and appropriates $4,990,631 from the public school foundation program account to implement the changes for fiscal year 2025-2026. The act is effective July 1, 2025, and the legislature expressed intent to fold the appropriation into the department’s standard budget in the next biennium.
Impact
HB0018 changes Wyoming law by adding W.S. 21-13-338 and revising related school finance provisions to establish a dedicated CTE supplies, materials, and equipment distribution within the education resource block grant model. It also amends and limits existing CTE grant statutes, repeals outdated funding language, and requires new reporting and rulemaking by the Department of Education. School districts offering qualifying CTE programs, especially those with high school CTE teachers, will be the primary recipients and must use the funds only for approved CTE purposes.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial. It passed the House and Senate with unanimous or near-unanimous committee recommendations and strong floor votes, including 60-0 in the House, 29-0 in the Senate, and final concurrence by 58-1. The voting history suggests general agreement that CTE funding should be updated and stabilized through the school finance formula.
Contention
There is little evidence of major opposition in the available record. The main policy issue embedded in the bill is how to transition from older CTE grant and equipment provisions to the new formula-based distribution, including how to avoid duplicate funding and how to treat districts that previously received demonstration project grants or equipment grants. Any potential contention would likely center on allocation methodology, the minimum funding floor for small programs, and the shift of money from discretionary grants to a formula tied to teacher FTEs, but the recorded votes show little resistance.