WYOMING’S SPENDING CULTURE STEMS FROM TRANSPARENCY AND PUBLIC RECORD PROBLEM

Natrona County School District faced scrutiny after the non-profit group OpenTheBooks published records of nearly $10 million in credit card purchases – highlighting voids in financial transparency breeding excessive spending culture throughout Wyoming. More than a year's worth of credit card records for Natrona County published demonstrated a shocking $1.2 million spent on travel and entertainment.

This makes requests for more tax dollars to fund "underfunded" school districts, also entertainment.

It is time to address the culture of excessive spending in Wyoming. Moreover, why does spending in schools increase while proficiency and growth in our students decrease? This is a serious problem in Wyoming, where we spend $16,400 per student on education – more than 44 other states. This is in addition to the nationwide problem where we spend $620 billion in K-12 public education and still rank behind all other industrial nations in math and science.

Other states, especially Arizona, have worked to remedy this situation through education choice methods like Education Savings Account programs and law that allows charter schools to thrive¹. Citizens and policy reformers alike must challenge the notion of why it costs taxpayers so much to educate a child in Wyoming and why despite this high cost, we yield little results in growth and proficiency.

Credit card records for the Natrona County School District showed $1.2 million spent on travel and entertainment. The District racked up nearly $10 million in various credit card charges between April 2016 and December 2017, with the largest amounts being spent on "computer related" areas — $1.53 million — and "household" items, which totaled $1.37 million. What has prompted Wyoming's excessive spending culture? When there is no oversight, bad conduct and excessive spending can, and very well may, result.

It is noteworthy that this data was obtained from a simple record request.

Public records matter to education transparency because citizens want their tax dollars to fund students, not bureaucratic systems. According to the Alvarez & Marsal Wyoming Government Spending and Efficiency Commission report, the current school district funding model encourages districts to spend inefficiently as there are limited reporting or compliance requirements to receive state funding.

We must continue to ask Natrona County why $400,000 in hotels? Why $160,000 in airline tickets? Should staff be entitled to bars, breweries, and steakhouses on the taxpayers' dime or should we re-evaluate our transparency and spending culture. And what about all the other counties that did not even comply with the OpenTheBooks request? Only 4 of 48 school districts fully complied with public records requests for checkbooks and salaries from OpenTheBooks in 2017. The others were breaking the law. This premise is intertwined with the bi-partisan polity, education choice.

The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled on an interpretation of the education funding model, stating that it cannot be arbitrary and capriciously applied to categorizations that do not impact the child. This limiting ruling highlights the persistent need for transparent funding models where the funding follows the student.

When transparency suffers, there is little oversight, vague laws apply, and archaic methods are practiced, to the detriment of the students. It is time to support kids rather than the job security of adults, namely high-paid administrators and others who abuse the system and use taxpayer provided funds to excess with ineffective accountability.

Diligent processes by our law makers will help to ensure that the correct checks and balances are in place. It is only when this is present that we can take preventative efforts against the few bad apples that run the risk of ruining the bunch in a political environment where distrust in government is already high.

The consequence of a lack of transparency (and Wyoming ranks 49^th out of all states in transparency) is simple – a culture that breeds excessive spending as a norm, with the default remedy of asking taxpayers for additional dollars once the well runs dry.

Once the proper tools are in place, efficiency naturally follows. Processes and details become open and accessible, meaning oversight is prevalent and ongoing. Inequity thrives in the shadows. Thankfully, our lawmakers are making this issue a priority, just in time to enable meaningful change. Perhaps transparency and efficiency, and an educational environment that funds students over systems, is just around the corner. What a benefit to all Wyoming citizens that would be.

¹Take for example Basis Charter Schools in Arizona which consistently rank at the top of polling regarding best programs and results nationwide, citing themselves as an outcome-based program – where they rank as the top programs worldwide also.