Balow Hopeful Teacher Salary Rollback Will Be Fixed

Wyoming Superintendent Jillian Balow says she is hoping lawmakers will fix a mistake in the budget process that could lead to Wyoming teacher salaries being rolled back to 2013-2014 levels for the next biennium.

She says that while Governor Matt Mead had included an external cost adjustment to increase teacher salaries in his budget proposal, there was an "oversight" by the Legislative Service Office that led to it being left out of the budget for education that lawmakers are working on.

Balow says her conversations with legislators about the issue have revealed two possible ways the issue could be addressed—either during markup on the budget bill or as an amendment to the budget. Balow also says she wants people to understand that her office and the state Department of Education are not involved in setting the budget, which is instead in the hands of the legislature.

The Wyoming Legislature will convene a budget session on Feb. 8 in Cheyenne.