Wyoming legislature ends session with no long-term budget, education solutions

The Wyoming Legislature entered the 2021 legislative session with a lofty agenda to cut education spending, stall revenue declines and guide a Wyoming economy battered by COVID-19 to a sustainable future.

But in one of the longest legislative sessions in history, lawmakers accomplished few of those goals. While ratifying significant cuts to government previously proposed by Gov. Mark Gordon, they killed numerous proposals to raise revenues to offset those cuts. And with education funding a top priority, an education funding reform bill died on the negotiating table on the session’s final day, prompting Gordon to announce he will take an active role in future discussions.

On top of 15% cuts to most government agencies — the largest dollar amount from the Wyoming Department of Health — Senate negotiators sought to impose even deeper reductions and did. Members of the House of Representatives also proposed their own, additional cuts on top of Gordon’s.

by Nick Reynolds