Superintendent Matt Erickson from Lincoln County School District #2 stepped into the SVI Radio studio on Tuesday, February 24 for his monthly report. Erickson touched on the SVHS football team going to Alaska this fall for a game and also shared his thoughts on the current status of SF0081, the School Recalibration bill.

(0:00) Live in studio this morning for his monthly report from Lincoln County School District (0:03) number two, that’s Superintendent Matt Erickson this morning. Matt, as always, (0:07) appreciate your time out of your busy schedule today. Thank you.

(0:10) You’re welcome. Thanks for having me, Duke. (0:12) Well, a lot of things that we can talk about, of course, with what’s happening during the (0:15) session in Cheyenne and everything happening here locally in the schools.

I know there’s (0:19) been a little buzz, though, especially with what’s coming up this fall. The Star Valley (0:24) Braves football team approved with the caveat of raising their own funds to fly to Alaska (0:30) for a game. That’s kind of, that’s pretty unique.

(0:33) That’s very interesting, isn’t it? Yeah, no, it’ll be a wonderful opportunity for the (0:38) young man and whatnot. And then in the fall of 27, Soldat will come here and play a game. So (0:46) that’ll be good.

Realize that we’ve put a hardship on some families and, you know, (0:54) with trying to raise the funds and some taxpayers and whatnot. But at the end of the day, I (1:00) hope that it’s a wonderful experience for all involved. (1:03) So now you look at this, this event and some of the other programs of the school, I know (1:09) bands are going to Disneyland.

And I mean, this isn’t this isn’t something completely unheard of (1:15) to put some students on on airplanes and send them somewhere else in the country. (1:19) It’s not. One of the big differences, though, is it’s during the season.

So (1:24) Wyoming High School Activities has a 150 mile across the border rule. So Kyle McLean, (1:33) the athletic director, will be in working with Coach Young. They’ll be getting permission from (1:38) Wyoming High School Activities for approval of this as well.

But that’s one big difference is. (1:44) And then I think it’s a little bit unique as well that the JV is going. So.

(1:50) So it’ll be a it’ll be a full plane. (1:52) Yeah. Yes, it will be.

(1:54) Awesome. And as you mentioned, it’s a home and away. So Alaska will be coming (1:58) the following season to Star Valley to play as well.

(2:01) Yeah. (2:02) Superintendent Matt Erickson in the studio this morning. Well, Superintendent, you and I have (2:05) had a number of discussions leading up to the legislative session regarding the school (2:08) recalibration bill.

Now that session is underway and we’re seeing some changes to that, wanted to (2:14) get an update from you on what you’re seeing and watching in Cheyenne and kind of what your current (2:18) thoughts are on it. (2:19) Well, thank you. Yeah, recalibration is a big deal.

And recalibration is basically (2:24) the funding model for K-12 education in the state. And we appreciate Representative Erickson. It was (2:31) it came to the House side for introduction and needed two thirds of a vote.

And Andrew Byron and (2:42) McKay, both representatives of students in our district and families, were on the no vote side (2:49) and helped it from being introduced on the House side. So obviously on the Senate side, there’s a (2:54) Senate file 81. And it’s been worked and amended and amended and worked.

And anyway, yesterday (3:03) afternoon, it finally got across the finish line. We very much appreciate Senator Dockstader. (3:11) I’ll just give you a little insight into how fast these things are going.

So about 158 right before (3:20) the Senate went back on the floor yesterday afternoon, I received a phone call, been (3:25) texting back and forth with Senator Dockstader all morning yesterday, knowing that Senate file (3:30) 81 was coming up yesterday afternoon. Anyway, he had me on the phone for a minute. And he was with (3:38) Matt Wilmarth, who was the employee for the LSO office and in charge of school finance and (3:45) drafting amendments and whatnot.

So we went back and forth as to (3:50) what we needed in Lincoln too. And we just have great, great local representation in Cheyenne. (3:57) I’m sure appreciate the hard work of Andrew Byron and McKay and then as well as Senator (4:04) Dockstader.

So they’re doing a great job for us and in constant communication. Been on the phone (4:11) already this morning with Representative Erickson. And tidbit of information, we’ve got our (4:16) middle school student council that made it Cheyenne yesterday afternoon.

And this morning, (4:23) there was Senator Dockstader and Representative Erickson getting to tour the floor of the Senate (4:29) and the House this morning. So a lot of good things happening. But back to the bill, (4:36) recalibration is not good for Lincoln too, in the current form.

So we’ll see as it crosses over to (4:43) the House, what happens there with amendments and whatnot. And then we’ll also see where Governor (4:50) Gordon lands on it, should it get across the finish line. I would anticipate or have high (4:57) optimism that Governor Gordon would line item veto some parts of the bill.

(5:02) Well, we would expect some changes to happen in the House, just with how the session has gone (5:07) this year. And so some of the concerns that you had brought up with recal previously with this (5:12) specific legislation was that the health insurance portion of it, there was the class size portion of (5:18) it. And those types of average daily membership, average daily membership.

Yeah. So from from your (5:24) understanding where the bill sits now coming out of the Senate, how do those specifics look? (5:29) So some of them are more favorable. Let’s go to the health insurance.

The health insurance (5:34) currently we’re reimbursed for all FTEs or full-time equivalents on the certified side (5:39) at the state rate, state premium rate. And with the amendments to health insurance, (5:45) it kicks health insurance down the road, having to go to the state plan for at least two years, (5:49) and there’d be a study. But the one big caveat that really costs our district is (5:56) that with a Rothis amendment, Senator Rothis out of Laramie, but we would only be reimbursed (6:05) for those that participate in it.

So full disclosure and full transparency, that’s 1.8 (6:12) million deduct to our district. So that’s a big deal. Yeah.

That’s a couple dollars. Yeah. Okay.

(6:20) Yeah. Out of a $52 million budget, when you take a 1.8 deduct on one amendment, then that’s (6:28) concerning. But there are a lot of things that are favorable in the bill.

But you know what, Duke, (6:37) all 2,950 kids and all 250 teachers, we’re going to have a great experience (6:43) next year no matter what happens with recalibration. We’re going to keep (6:48) our teachers are amazing, our support staff, and they’re going to stay focused. And we’re going to (6:54) have great student achievement.

Our graduation rates are going to be high. ACT scores, we’re (7:00) going to see an increase in those. YTOPS scores and just the relationships and the overall (7:06) experience that kids are going to have in Lincoln, too, are going to continue to be phenomenal.

(7:12) And we’ll let all the dust settle in Cheyenne and we’ll make it work. (7:18) It’s what we do, right? Absolutely. Superintendent Matt Erickson, (7:21) LCS number two in studio this morning.

Well, Superintendent, anything else you’d (7:24) like to mention while we have you? I would just take an opportunity, (7:28) Duke, as we get closer to spring and whatnot, remind people that our elections in Wyoming are (7:34) determined for state offices and national in the primaries. And we need to be registered as voters (7:46) by May 13th, I believe it is. And that’s a couple weeks prior to candidates even needing to file.

(7:54) So I just put a plug in. I think that as a state, two years ago, we maybe fell asleep or got a (8:04) little tired. So we’ll step up to the plate and get registered to vote by May 13th and make our (8:10) voices known.

And we certainly need to send, in my humble opinion, Andrew Byron and McKay Erickson (8:19) back to Cheyenne to represent us. This is not an election year for Senator Dockstader, but (8:26) those two in particular. And then we need to take a good hard look at (8:31) how we’re being represented from other representatives.

(8:35) Superintendent Matt Erickson, this morning, it’s all part of the weekday wake up on SVI radio.