EVANSTON — The Uinta County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees met on Tuesday, July 21, and the agenda included the budget for the 2021-22 school year, as well as a discussion about Rule CKA, the district’s proposed concealed carry policy; a potential girls’ wrestling tournament; and a presentation from Evanston Regional Hospital, among other items.

Chief Financial Officer John Williams spoke about the budget for the upcoming school year. Williams explained that the budget will be largely unchanged from last year’s, as the Wyoming legislature did not pass any changes to the budget in the most recent legislative session. Both the Senate and the House passed funding legislation; however, when it came time to reconcile the two in conference, Williams said the Senate neglected to show up, a move Williams described as “not a great way to run a representative republic.”

Because of this failure to pass a bill, funding levels will revert to the amounts of the previous year. Williams also outlined an additional one million dollars a year for the next three years from ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds authorized through federal COVID relief. The ESSER funds will be utilized to pay for custodians, nurses and other items that can be classified as related to COVID.

Williams warned that while this additional funding and inaction from the legislature is good news for now, the budget deficit still exists, and the legislature will have to make cuts eventually.

The board voted unanimously to pass the proposed budget, which included approximately $47 million dollars in general fund expenditures. Trustees also voted to approve a $650,000 transfer from reserve funds to the depreciation reserve account created last year to pay for future maintenance and/or technology needs. By law, school districts can only keep up to 15% of an annual budget in reserves and any funds above that amount have to be returned to the state, unless those funds are in a depreciation reserve account. The district currently has about 14% of an annual budget, or approximately $6 million, in reserves and Williams recommended the transfer to remain below the allowed level.

The board also again discussed Rule CKA, opting to schedule another public hearing on the matter before taking any action on the proposed rule. The policy has been ruled null and void on multiple occasions when challenged in court and board members have expressed a desire to provide ample time for public input and to follow the Wyoming Administrative Procedures Act to the letter in an effort to avoid further future litigation. A Notice of Intent to adopt the rule has been posted on the district website, along with copies of the proposed rule and attachments, and the public hearing is scheduled for the next regular board meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 3. Public comments can also be submitted in writing, with details on how to submit those comments available at uinta1.com.

The board took action on two items involving school activities. The board adopted a statement of support for the creation of a girls’ state wrestling tournament. While girls already wrestle in co-ed tournaments, a culminating tournament, if supported by enough districts, would be a girls-only event. The Wyoming High School Activities Association (WHSAA) requires at least eight schools to indicate support before it will move to create such an event.

The second item involving activities was a request by the Evanston High School drama department for a student trip to Disney World in October. Although the board has previously approved similar requests, trustees indicated they are no longer comfortable doing so, in part because such trips are not approved by the WHSAA. They also cited concerns regarding liability, student absences, and excessive costs, as well as conflicts with other school-sanctioned activities. Given these concerns, the board denied the request.

Representatives from Evanston Regional Hospital also presented a proposal in reference to the district’s efforts to find a full-time athletic trainer for EHS. Efforts to fill such a position have so far been unsuccessful, but the board has expressed an interest in filling such a position as EHS is the only 4A school without a full-time trainer. The hospital indicated that it would like to be as involved as possible in the process moving forward.

The board also reviewed the staff survey from the previous school year. While there was a drop in board approval from the previous year, ratings remained high among a large majority of the staff, with similar results for Superintendent Ryan Thomas. Although there was a slight drop in approval compared to last year’s survey, approval was still up significantly compared to several years ago.