The centerpiece of the budget state Superintendent Public Instruction Cindy Hill is seeking for her new office is five ambitious regional conferences for teachers.
They are included in her budget request of $6.3 million for the 17 months remaining in the two-year biennium, which also includes 15 positions for her new office in the Barrett Building in the Capitol Building complex in Cheyenne.
The Joint Appropriations Committee heard details of the budget request Tuesday evening from Hill and John Masters of her staff.
Although the JAC has no authority to approve or reject Hill’s budget at this point in the legislative session, the members need the information for a budget amendment or footnote so some money can be forthcoming to run the separate office.
The JAC members noted the request signified a big increase in the budget from current spending and suggested Hill and her crew were moving too fast with their new duties.
In a letter to Senate President Tony Ross and House Speaker Tom Lubnau, Gov. Matt Mead noted that the current budget for the superintendent’s unit in the Department of Education is $2.6 million with eight employees.
Mead recommended a budget for the superintendent’s office for the 17 months remaining in the biennium of $2.2 million with 12 positions.
Hill’s new office was created when the Legislature passed Senate File 104, which transferred the administrative duties of the superintendent over the Wyoming Department of Education to a new director to be appointed by the governor from three names submitted by the State Board of Education.
Hill’s general duties over the public schools, including a report due every Oct. 15 assessing the 350 public schools in the state, were outlined in the new law.
Hill’s proposal calls for the regional conferences to be held in the second year of her new office’s operation, after Oct. 15, with each expected to attract 1,200 to 1,500 teachers. The conferences would be preceded by training workshops for the teachers.
As an incentive to attend the workshops, the teachers would receive a stipend totaling about $1.9 million, said Sen. Eli Bebout, R-Riverton, chairman of the Senate Revenue Committee.
The conferences were cited as the reason Hill is seeking a tenfold increase in her travel budget.
Hill said the conferences and professional development workshops are important as education moves toward the national Common Core academic standards. She said she is hoping all 48 school districts will collaborate with her office.
“I believe it will work,” Hill said. “We know we can work alongside the districts.”
As an example she told of the improvement in student reading scores in Fremont County District 28, which Hill said was the result of a collaborative partnership between her staff and the district.
Each school district has different needs, she said.
Bebout agreed the progress was impressive but said it was accomplished under the old system.
Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said Hill and her staff expanded on an amendment to Senate File 104 that called for these professional development workshops.
Bebout pointed out that in any new program, it is common for the state and agency to “crawl first,” while Hill and her crew wanted to “hit the ground running.”
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