CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - The amount of money Wyoming spends on its K-12 public schools should be determined by legislators, not judges, a Senate committee decided Wednesday while endorsing a proposed constitutional amendment on the issue.
Senate Joint Resolution 9 would prohibit Wyoming courts from requiring the imposition of any tax or other provisions of funding for schools.
The Senate Education Committee voted 3-2 to send the proposal to the full state Senate for debate.
If approved by the Legislature with a two-thirds vote in both chambers, the proposed amendment would go on the next statewide general election ballot in 2018.
The main sponsor of the proposal, Sen. Dave Kinskey, R-Sheridan, said lawmakers have little room to address the current downturn in state revenue because court rulings restrict what they can do on education spending.
Since 1995, the Wyoming Supreme Court has issued four rulings on the funding that generally forced the Legislature to make it a priority.
Wyoming is now among the top 10 states in the amount of money it spends on each K-12 student.
Kinskey said the court rulings on education force lawmakers to consider either raising taxes or cutting non-education services, such as prisons and health care.
The constitutional amendment would give voters a say in those choices, he said.
“Whether this constitutional amendment passes or fails, we’ll know which direction to take,” Kinskey said.
Representatives of school districts and the state teachers union oppose the proposal, saying it threatens the separation of powers between the courts and legislative branch and would upend policy that has been developed over the past 20 years.
Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, a member of the committee, said the proposal was meant to shield lawmakers from having to make politically tough decisions involving revenue lost during the energy industry downturn.
“What we probably need is a hard look at revenue, and what this is trying to do is avoid that hard discussion,” Rothfuss said.
Lawmakers and Gov. Matt Mead already have cut state spending significantly over the past couple years but additional cuts will be needed unless new revenue can be raised.
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