Skip to main content

Teachers, supporters brave weather to rally for funding

News Letter Journal - Staff Photo - Create Article
By
Hannah Shields with the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, via the Wyoming News Exchange

CHEYENNE — Educators and supporters gathered in the pouring rain along Pershing Boulevard Monday evening to demand stronger support from the state of Wyoming for public school funding and teachers in the classroom.

Around 30 to 40 individuals participated in a demonstration organized by the Cheyenne Teachers Education Association, wearing red T-shirts and carrying homemade poster boards. The group was a mix of current and former educators, parents and community supporters.

Nikki Lally, who has taught middle school and high school science for more than 20 years, said it’s important for policymakers to understand what it means to be a public educator.

“Sometimes it can feel like policies are made by outsiders that don’t necessarily understand some of the unintended consequences that roll down into our classrooms,” Lally said. “Educators are professionals, and what they are talking about is valid information that really needs to be considered as policies are formed to help support our students.”

CTEA President Dylan Ford told the WTE that educators have had a “pretty tough year.”

“Attacks coming from the state Legislature have really made our already pretty difficult job a lot harder,” Ford said.

State lawmakers have passed legislation in recent years, including the most recent session, that had a major impact on school policies. Such legislation includes removing gun-free zones in public schools and creating additional requirements for parental notification of their child’s well-being in school.

In addition, state lawmakers are tasked with recalibrating the state’s education funding model this year, which is used to calculate annual funding in the K-12 school resource block grant. The recalibration process is supposed to happen once every five years, but was last completed and approved by the Legislature in 2010, according to the Wyoming Education Association.

“What we’re calling on the state to do is to stop violating our Wyoming Constitution, to actually fully fund public schools, to respect our educators and the public schools that our communities are built around,” Ford said.

In 2022, the Wyoming Education Association sued the state for unconstitutionally underfunding its K-12 public schools. In late February, just days before the end of the legislative session, a Laramie County district court judge ruled in favor of the WEA and the eight school districts that joined the lawsuit.

Laramie County District Judge Peter Froelicher concluded that Wyoming’s funding model for the K-12 public school block grant is “unconstitutional” and “no longer cost-based.” 

He ordered the state to modify its funding model and its school facilities financing system “to assure the school financing system for operations and for school facilities are constitutional.”

“The Court notes, because 2025 is a recalibration year, there is an excellent window of opportunity to address these issues,” Froelicher wrote.

The state has since appealed this decision to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Addressing LCSD1 board

Monday’s hour-long rainy protest concluded at 5:30 p.m. so demonstrators could make it to the Laramie County School District 1 Board of Trustees meeting. In this second demonstration, four speakers, including Ford, approached trustee members directly to list where they believed the district could improve in supporting its teachers.

The first request was for trustees to bring back the salary schedule joint committee, with the intention to roll out a new salary schedule for the 2026-27 school year. Ford said the current salary schedule has remained unchanged since it was first set up in the 1990s.

“A teacher in Cheyenne receives around a $550 increase for every year of service,” Ford said. “Given where salaries were in the ‘90s, that was pretty generous, but our situation has changed now.”

Today, the $550 raise equates to a 0.7% increase for mid-career educators, Ford said, or a $10.50 raise per week of the calendar year. This percentage shrinks with every raise and every year of experience received by a teacher, he added.

“Given how tiny our hiring pool is, and how reliant we are on retaining our existing educators, this system is indefensible,” Ford said.

The second task asked of the elected trustees is to increase pay for substitute teachers. Cheyenne educator Shandah Terrell said LCSD1 schools are short three to 10 subs “on any given day.” Without a substitute teacher, educators often absorb another class with their own.

“It’s extremely difficult for an educator to say no, especially knowing that there may not be anybody else to do it,” Terrell said.

However, this means a teacher is taking on an additional 20 to 30 students, sometimes from a completely different grade level. She said the “teacher is being set up to fail,” given little to no prep time to teach an additional class.

In addition to increasing substitute teacher wages, Terrell also suggested expanding pipeline programs to create more certified subs.

A third suggestion for the trustees is to switch to a four-day school week, similar to the one in Laramie County School District 2. Cheyenne educator Jennifer Ponce said the fifth day could be used for lesson plans, student intervention and school activities.

It also could help alleviate the stress of finding a substitute teacher on Fridays and allow breathing room for student- athletes.

“While there are so many negative things impacting our school these last few years, the four-day school week is an idea that students, parents and staff can genuinely get excited about,” Ponce said.

The fourth and final ask of the board concerns school gun policies and behavioral health issues in the classroom. Cheyenne educator Mason Magagna thanked trustees for specifying training requirements and working with insurers on its own district gun policy.

“You made our schools a little safer,” Magagna said. “However, there are many students and staff members who are still concerned for their safety.”

He suggested allowing teachers to hold parent- teacher conferences virtually, starting next school year. Magagna also addressed the increase in student behavior issues in the classroom.

“More and more, we are seeing disruptive, disrespectful and sometimes violent behaviors from students,” he said.

Teachers are getting burned out from mediating classroom disruptions throughout the day, he said. District leadership recently created a task force to study the epidemic of behavioral issues, which Magagna said he was thankful for.

He asked the board to include educators on every level of this team, and to make sure there are actionable steps put into place so it “doesn’t fizzle out.”

Board’s response

No action was taken Monday night in response to the CTEA’s comments. 

In an emailed statement to the WTE on Tuesday, Board of Trustees Chairwoman Alicia Smith said the board is grateful for LCSD1 educators and will take their input “seriously.” She added that not all issues are a “simple fix.”

“A healthy partnership and open communication is important to us,” Smith wrote. “While some issues are not just a simple fix, we, as a board, do our best to take the input of all of our constituents as we make future decisions for our district.”

LCSD1 Superintendent Stephen Newton reflected a similar sentiment in his own statement emailed to the WTE.

“On behalf of the district, I would like to thank the CTEA representatives who provided public comment at (Monday) night’s Board of Trustees meeting,” Newton stated. “Their feedback, as well as input from all stakeholders, is appreciated as we continue our work to solve these complex issues.”

This story was published on June 4, 2025. 

--- Online Subscribers: Please click here to log in to read this story and access all content.

Not an Online Subscriber? Click here for a one-week subscription for only $1!.