By Hector Martinez
The Sheridan Press
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

SHERIDAN — A Wyoming Legislature bill draft would help provide additional funds to school districts for technology.

The Wyoming school funding model currently funds school districts $250 per average daily membership for school technology. ADM accounts for the average number of students enrolled in a school or district each day during the academic year.

An increasing or decreasing trend of ADM can impact a school district in a variety of ways, primarily in revenue, according to previous reporting from The Sheridan Press.

Larry Picus, a school finance consultant for Picus, Odden and Associates, recommended a computer ratio of 1:3 for students in grades kindergarten through fifth and 1:1 in grades 6-12 and $398 per ADM.

Albany County School District 1 Chief Information and Cybersecurity Officer Shawn Hime said ACSD1 serves approximately 4,000 students and 800 employees. Its information technology staff consists of 10 employees managing about 2,250 devices.

As the Wyoming Legislature’s Committee on School Finance Recalibration considers technology during recalibration, Hime said he encourages the legislators to keep one distinction in mind: the number of computers a district owns is not the same cost as operating its technology environment.

Hime said certainly student and staff devices are part of the cost, but behind those devices are costs such as networks and wireless infrastructure; cyber security; identity and account management; filtering and student safety systems; student information and learning management systems.

“There’s been some consideration of modifying the 1:1 model. I would caution against that. We’ve seen a clear operational benefit from maintaining a 1:1 student device model. When a Chromebook is assigned to an individual, that student has clear responsibility for the device and we maintain a complete history associated with that specific asset,” Hime said. “That accountability has helped us reduce device breakage because students are more likely to take care of equipment they know is assigned directly to them.”

Last year ACSD1 spent more than $25,000 on Chromebook repair and replacement. Hime said the school district has seen a 25% reduction in device damage over the last year because of its 1:1 ratio.

After hearing testimony, committee members voted to sponsor a draft bill that includes $395 per ADM for technology. The draft bill also includes minimums for staffing at districts for a 1.0 full-time equivalent tech director and a .5 student information system clerk.

While there was not an exact ratio specified in the drafting instructions, Sheridan County School District 1 Business Manager Jeremy Smith said in a text message to The Sheridan Press the $395 per ADM won’t get a school district 1:1 for K-12, but it provides the flexibility needed.

The next meeting will be Oct. 21-22 at 8:30 a.m. in Casper.