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(Wyoming News Service) A Wyoming committee has recommended a temporary bump in funding for public schools, while educators await a judge's decision on the state's broader duties to the system.

Wyoming's Joint Education Interim Committee voted to recommend an 8.5 percent increase in funding for public education during the next school year, an amount calculated to return funding to levels mandated by the state's constitution.

The increase comes through what is called an "external cost adjustment," which adjusts annually for inflation, which is meant to be on top of a "recalibration" every five years.

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Kimberly Amen, president of the Wyoming Education Association, said the legislature has not incorporated results from the last three recalibrations.

"We, in this state, are operating on a funding model that dates clear back to 2010," Amen pointed out.

The Wyoming Education Association sued the state in 2022 for violating its constitution by not adequately funding public education. The judge is expected to make a decision on the case after he receives final materials later this month.

The cost adjustments are delivered via a block grant, so the proposed increase does not translate directly to a bump in teacher pay. Amen noted some school districts have had to use the block grants in creative ways to retain teachers, at the cost of other programming. Amen emphasized it particularly affects rural communities.

"Because we're such a rural state," Amen observed. "We have so many small communities where the school is the center of that community. "

Wyoming educators used to have a strong pay advantage over teachers in neighboring states but according to a report prepared for the committee, Wyoming's advantage has fallen by half since 2018.