SF 81 Wyoming House · 2026 Regular Session

K-12 public school finance-2.

Wyoming's SF 81 revises how state funds support K-12 public schools by implementing updated funding formulas based on the 2025 cost of education study. The bill establishes specific teacher staffing requirements: core teachers (1 FTE per 16-25 students depending on grade level), minimum teacher thresholds for smaller schools, and additional staff for English learners (1 FTE per 100 students), at-risk students (for summer/extended day programs), and career education. It directly affects all Wyoming public school districts by changing how state education funds are distributed based on student needs and school size, rather than solely on enrollment. The bill also restricts how schools can spend funds from the school foundation program and requires districts to join the state employees' health insurance program.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2026
Committee Review
Mar 2026
Senate Passage
Mar 2026
House Passage
Mar 2026
Signed into Law
Mar 2026
Introduced Feb 13, 2026 Signed Mar 9, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Enrolled · 5 edits · Mar 9, 2026
MODERATE
The bill was finalized and enrolled after passing both legislative chambers. The text was cleaned up to remove formatting artifacts and redundant headers. Substantively, the core funding formulas for teacher positions were preserved, but the minimum staffing requirements were simplified and clarified to ensure every school receives a baseline number of teachers regardless of size.
Scope change
The bill's scope remains focused on K-12 public school finance and the education resource block grant model; no new entities or geographic areas were added or removed.
TECHNICAL

Removed redundant headers, page numbers, and formatting markers (like 'ORIGINAL SENATE' and 'ENGROSSED') to create a clean, final legal text.

DEFINITION

Reorganized the list of defined terms (e.g., 'Co-located school', 'FTE') to appear immediately after the introductory clause, improving readability and logical flow.

FISCAL

Simplified the minimum teacher staffing rules by removing complex pro-rata calculations for smaller schools and replacing them with a straightforward requirement that every school must have at least one full-time equivalent (FTE) teacher.

Clarified the district-wide minimum staffing rule, ensuring that if a district's calculated teacher count is below 17, the state will provide additional funding to reach that threshold.

SCOPE

Updated the bill's summary description to reflect the final version, including a new grant program for post-secondary enrollment options and adjusting the list of repealed provisions.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 23, 2026 · House Mar 5, 2026

How they voted

301
Passed
Total votes 31
Feb 23, 2026
D Democratic2
2 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican29
28 Yea 1 Nay
96% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
25
Key actions
9
Committee
8
Mar 5, 2026
Upper · Passed
S Concur:Passed 31-0-0-0-0
upper
Mar 5, 2026
Lower · Passed
H 3rd Reading:Passed 52-7-3-0-0
lower
Mar 2, 2026
Lower · Passed
H COW:Passed
lower
Mar 2, 2026
Lower · Passed
H02 - Appropriations:Recommend Amend and Do Pass 7-0-0-0-0
lower
Feb 27, 2026
Committee
H04 - Education:Rerefer to H02 - Appropriations
lower
Feb 27, 2026
Lower · Passed
H04 - Education:Recommend Amend and Do Pass 6-2-1-0-0
lower
Feb 24, 2026
Introduced
H Introduced and Referred to H04 - Education
lower
Feb 23, 2026
Upper · Passed
S 3rd Reading:Passed 30-1-0-0-0
upper
Feb 19, 2026
Upper · Passed
S COW:Passed
upper
Feb 17, 2026
Upper · Passed
S02 - Appropriations:Recommend Do Pass 4-0-1-0-0
upper
Feb 17, 2026
Committee
:Rerefer to S02 - Appropriations
upper
Feb 17, 2026
Upper · Passed
S04 - Education:Recommend Amend and Do Pass 5-0-0-0-0
upper
Feb 13, 2026
Introduced
S Introduced and Referred to S04 - Education 31-0-0-0-0
upper
0 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.