Letter to the Wyoming Department of Education — Reasonable Level of Tolerance (December 14, 2023)

Summary

This is a letter dated December 14, 2023 from the United States Department of Education to Megan Degenfelder, Superintendent of Public Instruction at the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE). The letter states that the Department received WDE's written plan for a reasonable level of tolerance when calculating whether Wyoming met State maintenance of equity requirements in fiscal years (FY) 2022 and 2023 for a subset of its local educational agencies. It describes WDE's proposal of four tolerance levels, including a 12 percent reduction in per-pupil funding for very small school districts with an ADM of 243 or fewer students and a 42.5 percent reduction for very small school districts with virtual programs. It states that the Department determined the proposal includes reasonable levels of tolerance for small LEAs in FYs 2022 and 2023.

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                      UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


                                       December 14, 2023

The Honorable Megan Degenfelder
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Wyoming Department of Education
122 W. 25th St., Ste. E200
Cheyenne, WY 82002

Dear Superintendent Degenfelder:

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) received your written plan for a reasonable
level of tolerance when calculating whether the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) has
met State maintenance of equity requirements under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
(ARP Act) in fiscal years (FY) 2022 and 2023. This written plan applies only to a subset of
Wyoming’s local educational agencies (LEAs).

The ARP Act’s State maintenance of equity requirements help ensure that State funding supports
LEAs with high concentrations of poverty and the students who have been subject to
longstanding opportunity gaps in our education system and experienced the greatest impact from
the COVID-19 pandemic. These requirements are vital for ensuring that States maintain funding
to address the impact of the pandemic on students’ education, and for protecting students in high-
need and highest-poverty LEAs from disproportionate cuts if reductions in State effort do occur.

The Department determined that it is consistent with the State maintenance of equity
requirements to allow a State educational agency (SEA) to calculate whether it has maintained
funding equity with respect to its very small high-need and highest-poverty LEAs within a
reasonable “tolerance level.” The Department’s determination is based on the possibility of
significant volatility in the calculated per-pupil funding amounts for very small LEAs caused by
small changes in student enrollment, which may be unrelated to whether an SEA has achieved
the intent of the requirements. (See Frequently Asked Questions, American Rescue Plan
Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Program, Maintenance of Equity
Requirements, July 26, 2022, Question 21(a).)

According to materials provided by WDE on November 30, 2023, Wyoming’s school funding
formula includes per-pupil cost-based amounts as well as baseline or “minimum” funding for
small school districts, which Wyoming defines as having an average daily membership (ADM)
of 243 students or fewer. WDE asserts that calculated per-pupil funding amounts for its very
small LEAs are significantly affected by small changes in attendance rates, especially when these
involve students transitioning between brick-and-mortar and virtual schools. In its proposal,
Wyoming notes that the pandemic contributed to unusual swings in enrollment between brick-
and-mortar and virtual schools, resulting in per-pupil funding fluctuations in LEAs that offered a
statewide virtual program. In Wyoming’s small LEAs, these factors make the per-pupil funding
amounts an imperfect indicator of whether the SEA has achieved the intent of maintaining equity
in funding across LEAs.
Accordingly, WDE proposes four tolerance levels:
      1) For “very small school districts” with an ADM of 243 or fewer students, WDE
          proposes to tolerate a 12 percent reduction in per-pupil funding from year to year.
          This would impact three very small LEAs in FY 2022 and three very small LEAs in
          FY 2023 identified by the State as meeting the definition of high-need or highest-
          poverty that served less than 0.4 percent of Wyoming’s students in both FY 2022 and
          FY 2023.
      2) For “small districts” with an ADM between 243 and 1,280 students, WDE proposes
          to tolerate a six percent reduction in per-pupil funding from year to year. This would
          impact three small LEAs in FY 2022 and three small LEAs in FY 2023 identified by
          the State as meeting the definition of high-need or highest-poverty that served
          2.84 percent of Wyoming’s students in both FY 2022 and FY 2023.
      3) For “very small school districts with virtual programs” with an ADM of 243 or fewer
          students, WDE proposes to tolerate a 42.5 percent reduction in per-pupil funding
          from year to year. This would impact one very small LEA in FY 2022 that served .1
          percent of Wyoming’s students in FY 2022; for FY 2023, zero very small LEAs are
          impacted.
      4) For “small school districts with virtual programs” with an ADM between 243 and
          1,280 students, WDE proposes to tolerate a 25 percent reduction in per-pupil funding
          from year to year. This would impact two small districts in FY 2022 and two small
          districts in FY 2023 identified by the State as meeting the definition of high-need or
          highest-poverty that served 2.41 percent of Wyoming’s students in FY 2022 and
          2.24 percent of students in FY 2023.

After reviewing WDE’s tolerance proposal and accompanying data, the unique circumstances in
the State, and our further State-specific analysis, we have determined that WDE’s proposal
includes reasonable levels of tolerance when calculating whether Wyoming has maintained
equity for small LEAs in FYs 2022 and 2023. If you have any questions, please contact your
program officer at: Wyoming.OESE@ed.gov.

                                                  Sincerely,
Laura Jimenez
                                                  Laura Jimenez

                                                  Laura Jimenez
                                                  Director, Office of State and Grantee Relations


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