Efforts by the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee last week may have found some much-needed funding as a result of a piece of legislation passed during the 2017 session.
Having gone unnoticed by many, House Bill 55’s passing in February provided an opportunity of reducing the educational funding deficit by $150 million.
Basically, increased mineral activity, along with some sales tax predictions, lawmakers were able to discover the funds from previously unpredicted revenue as they approach the 2018 budget session.
Here’s State Representative Mike Madden on the unexpected revenue…
Even with this newly-discovered revenue, lawmakers are still looking at a budget deficit of more than a half a million dollars in the upcoming biennium for education alone.