By Noah Zahn
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via- Wyoming News Exchange
CHEYENNE — After two hours of passionate debate weighing educational and fiscal values, members of the Wyoming House of Representatives voted Wednesday to maintain cuts to the University of Wyoming and Wyoming Public Media of $40 million and $3 million, respectively.
Opponents argue the cuts are an arbitrary attack against education, while supporters call them practical.
“The cuts send a message to our young people that the state really doesn’t care about their education at all. A weaker university will have a harder time attracting and keeping students,” said Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie, adding that the move will only further encourage youth to leave the state.
In a 34-26 vote, lawmakers shot down a move to reinstate $40 million that was stripped from Gov. Mark Gordon’s 2027-28 biennium budget for UW by the Joint Appropriations Committee.
Representatives cited several reasons for the decision, saying the university already has ample funding and has gone against previous legislation banning diversity, equity and inclusion programming.
Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, presented numbers that show UW has a ratio of 1.5 students for each employee and a 2.8 students- to-teaching staff ratio, arguing that is much higher than it needs to be.
In response, Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie, contacted UW officials and said they told her that there are currently 10,918 students and 765 faculty members, creating a 14-to-1 ratio.
Sherwood, among others, said she had never heard those justifications for the cuts to funding until it was presented Wednesday.
“It’s an attack (on the university) when we have no justification on why we’re supposed to just to cut it,” said Rep. Lee Filer, R-Cheyenne, adding that the decision to exempt certain schools from the cut, like the College of Agriculture, signals a distrust in the UW Board of Trustees to make wise decisions in governing the university and signals general uncertainty to businesses looking at coming to Wyoming.
Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, said the cuts were the result of lawmakers who were “triggered” by the idea of freedom of education through the state’s sole four-year publicly funded university.
“This is $40 million in jobs for hard-working people in my community because you’re triggered,” she said.
She also warned that cutting funds to UW could harm the university, creating more dangerous possibilities if the university is not able to support as many Wyoming youth.
“Wait until you see what they learn when they go to the West Coast and come back with those ideas. That’s dangerous,” she added.
Neiman argued it was the other way around.
“I think we need to quit being offended and start actually looking at this from a standpoint of what’s really good for the university. Nobody here wants to be naughty or be mean. The reality of it is we’ve got a lot of administration in that university,” he said, adding he trusts the university trustees to administer the decisions of the university, but called the institution “top heavy.”
Following 13 ½ hours of debate Tuesday and three more Wednesday (at the time of publication), criticisms of the Joint Appropriations Committee began to boil to the surface as the House took longer than it typically does to consider budget amendments on second reading while the Senate completed all of its amendments Tuesday.
“Folks, why are we spending so much time on this? Because JAC got it wrong. Because we care, because we’re hearing from our people at home,” said Rep. J.T. Larson, R-Rock Springs, around an hour into the debate about UW funds.
“If we’re spending this much time on one amendment, maybe it’s time to look inward and wonder why,” he added.
Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, echoed those concerns, asking the JAC members what good it does for the state to cut $40 million from UW.
Filer framed those funds as an investment in Wyoming’s workforce, rather than an expenditure by the state.
“It’s not spending. It’s an investment in Wyoming’s workforce,” he said. “… Cutting $40 million saves money short term, but costs Wyoming in its workforce shortages, recruitment costs and economic stagnation for the long term.”
Others argued the state was approaching the situation backward, saying lawmakers should first look into concerns about the university or potentially ask its board to meet certain benchmarks before cutting funds.
“Then we have metrics to measure performance, and we can talk about how funds are appropriated, but we seem to be doing this backward,” said Rep. Elissa Campbell, R-Casper.
Despite these arguments, proponents of the cut maintained that it was a practical cut to the university.
“We want our university to be an example to our students of efficient operation, business management, showing them that we know how to best manage the taxpayers’ money,” Neiman said.
In a much shorter discussion, representatives voted down a proposal to maintain the current budget for Wyoming Public Media in a similar vote of 25-34.
Both of these changes only apply to the House budget, as the Wyoming Senate also works its own version of the budget, which it reverted to the governor’s original version early in its process Tuesday.
By the end of the session, both chambers of the Legislature must approve a budget and reconcile any differences between the two chambers before it goes to Gordon for his consideration.
