In a recent column, Chase Christensen, the Superintendent of Schools for Sheridan County School District 3, wrote, “Respect for teachers means paying them what they deserve.” I couldn’t agree more. The question is why didn’t Mr. Christensen’s school district do that very thing when the legislature provided the funding for it? In the past legislative session, HB316 provided enough funding to give all school professional and non-professional staff an 8.5% raise. It was signed by Governor Gordon. 

According to a document prepared by the Wyoming Legislative Service Office and obtained by Cowboy State Politics (which is available at my website), only 1 school district in the state actually gave the intended raise. It was not SCSD3. SCSD3 gave an average raise of 3.52%--not 8.5%. This is not paying teachers or staff what they deserve. 

Mr. Christensen writes, “At present, the [funding] model sets base pay at 75% of the comparative wage index. Whether intended or not, this sends a message: teaching is worth three-quarters of a job. That is just unfair.” What message does stiffing school staff on their approved raise send? 

What is also unfair is giving district employees a raise 59% lower than what SCSD3 was paid for. Is this paying teachers what they deserve? The question I and many Wyoming taxpayers have is, “where did our money go?” Because, when it comes to SCSD3, 59% of it didn’t go to teachers or custodians or secretaries or any other place it was intended. 

You’ll notice in Mr. Christensen’s op-ed that he doesn’t mention the insufficient raise given to SCSD3 staff this year. I can only surmise why: that it is not, as he puts it, honoring the teachers’ work as the 100% profession it is; rather, it’s treating teachers as 41% of that. 

As it relates to the other school districts in Sheridan County, SCSD1 gave an average raise of 6.18%; and, SCSD2 employees saw an increase of 6%. While significantly more respectable than district 3, neither of those are 8.5%. It should be noted that nothing in Wyoming law binds school districts by statute to follow spending recommendations from the legislature. But it shouldn’t have to. 

Wyoming taxpayers spent tens of millions of dollars on raises for our school staff. All but one school district spent much of it elsewhere. Some school districts have claimed to have increased benefits. While benefits are nice, you can’t spend them. Benefits don’t help with rent and they don’t help with groceries. An 8.5% raise in pay was meant to be just that, an 8.5% raise. That’s what Sheridan school districts should have given.