Here is a question often heard since the extent of Wyoming's K-12 funding shortfall has become widely discussed; "Is Wyoming education top-heavy with administrative staff?" The short answer would appear to be yes.  Graph 1 uses data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) from fall 2013 (the most recent available) in two separ...

Bob Nelson chats with Doug Randall on KGAB 650 AM about 2017 school legislation.

Wyoming Liberty Group recently wrote Can We Rely on NAEP Rankings Part 1 Wyoming's rankings versus other states in National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) scores. We pointed out that, while our rankings look very good, appearances are deceiving. The scores were: Reading Grade 4 – Ranked 8th of 52 (50 states plus D.C. and Department of...

Wyoming is talking. In fact, many are happy. What they're jubilant about is Wyoming schools' 2015 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) scores. There is room to be pleased about where Wyoming ranks versus other jurisdictions in reading and math in both Grades 4 and 8. Reading Grade 4 – Ranked 8th of 52 (50 states plus D.C. and Department...

Bob Nelson talks with Doug Randall about developments in Wyoming education funding and reform.

Wyoming has been paying a ton of money for K-12 education since 2005. The reason for the heavy spending? It was a major Wyoming Supreme Court/Legislative overhaul of the way our schools were being funded to equalize spending among students. Now we find that the consultants, on whose advice the spending was largely based, criticize the system for we...

Education funding is a complicated issue in Wyoming. The state constitution gives education a special status on the list of public policy priorities, and the state's education funding formula has been the subject of much debate. It is therefore impossible to give a full picture of state education funding in a short blog or two. There is, however, o...