During a six-week trial in Laramie County, the court considered how we fund education in Wyoming and whether it's sufficient. The judge determined that we need to rework the “basket of goods” and give it some updates.
While I am generally a small-government kind of gal, I cannot disagree with some of the analysis the court made, holding, “The evidence about elementary level mental health counselors is mostly undisputed.”
If you’ve read our state news over the last year, I’m sure you’ve noticed a startling uptick in youth violence. Similarly, Wyoming has led the country in youth suicides for some time now. Stories of an alleged elementary-school sexual assault in Cody, bullying in Natrona County, and the fifth-grade student in Carpenter, Wyoming who died by suicide haunt our recent history. Now that we have some commonsense leadership in office, It’s time for Wyoming lawmakers to solve this problem.
While I do not like the idea of our schools becoming parents, it seems that too many parents are largely uninvolved in their children’s lives, and schools have become social welfare centers to which kids escape. From the teachers I talk to, I’ve learned that these children come to school hungry, exhausted and unregulated. The fallout is a crisis that has teachers leaving by the droves and unable to manage their classrooms, because they are dealing with a growing number of children with behavioral issues, violent tendencies, and inability to focus. The reality of the situation is heartbreaking, and it seems, growing at a rapid rate.
That said, while we spend a lot of money in the state to fund education, the basket of goods is changing in new and complicated ways. The court recognized this.
The Legislature hired consultants to advise on the funding model after a series of court cases in the 1980s that found we had funding issues. The trial discussed that these consultants recommended adding elementary level school counselors as part of the funding model during the 2020 recalibration. In 2023, it was recommended again. There was even a state-sponsored task force that looked at the issue and made the same recommendation.
I wish that parents would recognize the needs of their students and take them to counseling. I wish that parents would spend more time talking to and interacting with their children. Unfortunately, as a parent myself, I see far too many parents staring at a phone or being altogether absent. We have a generation of kids being raised on iPads.
Add in layers of poverty, rural location with limited access to healthcare, and issues of violence and these issues compile. The results are devastating - a generation of youth who are lost, with only a video game or their own mind to guide them. As a kid who grew up with some of these issues, I can tell you - it is a fight that seems impossible to win. For many, school is a place of refuge and safety.
As conservatives, it is easy for us to want to say that it’s a parent’s job to parent and address their own kids’ needs. We don’t want increased public costs. But unfortunately, these kids need us and we have no choice. Their lives depend on it.
Many of the plaintiff school districts in the lawsuit were employing mental health counselors even though the state's funding model didn't set aside money for them. In 2023, the approximate costs for the elementary counselors were $15.8 million. There were some time-limited state and federal grants provided, but I think that is a bad idea. Federal grants come with federal strings and agendas. As a state, we must provide resources which are open-ended and address student needs. I’m not interested in playing the game of politics when it comes to protecting our kids. The testimony at trial suggested that these temporary grants were insufficient for the growing mental health needs of the young students.
I agree with the judge, who held, “Based upon the undisputed evidence, this Court can only conclude the Funding Model must include elementary level school mental health counselors as a component. Not providing the elementary school counselors results in a failure to provide the constitutionally required ample and appropriate provision for at-risk and special problem students.” The court also found that this “represents a major change and innovation in public school, which should be available to all Wyoming students.”
Our state has no greater resource than our kids. This is a life-changing, and life-saving innovation.
Cowboy State Daily columnist Cassie Craven is a University of Wyoming College of Law graduate who practices law in Wyoming. She can be reached at: longhornwritingllc@gmail.com
