Wyoming Plaintiffs Pursue Pre-K Remedy in Campbell Case

Plaintiffs in Wyoming’s on-going school funding case, Campbell County Sch. Dist. v. State, have included a claim for state funding for preschool in the remedy phase of the litigation. Plaintiffs have filed an order to show cause seeking to have the state demonstrate that it has remedied the constitutional defects identified by the Wyoming Supreme Court in its earlier decisions. In Campbell I (1995), the Court held that the state school funding system, including several provisions of the system that resulted in disparities in funding among local districts, failed to satisfy the state’s obligation to provide a fair, complete, and equal education "appropriate for the times." In Campbell II (2001), the Court reviewed the legislature’s response to Campbell I, held that the legislative enactment "is capable of supporting a constitutional finance system," but that a number of changes need to be made for the system to be constitutionally acceptable.

Wyoming is one of ten states in the country that does not fund a preschool program. A state statute allows school districts to run their own preschool program with local revenue, but prohibits using state aid to fund or support such a program. Wyoming has a sizeable population of children at-risk for school failure who could benefit from a high quality preschool program. Plaintiffs in Campbell allege that risk of school failure is found not only in low-income children, particularly Native American children, but also in children of families who work in mines and industrial plants associated with the mining industry. These industries tend to require shift work not conducive to family life and a relatively mobile workforce that results in instability for children.

The Wyoming Supreme Court has issued several key rulings in the Campbell decisions that support the preschool claim, including declaring education a fundamental right; making adequate education funding a "paramount priority" of the legislature; requiring that public education be "the best that [the state] can do" -- one "that is both visionary and unsurpassed" and "appropriate for the times;" and directing that the state’s funding system account for the special needs of students in order to level the playing field for at-risk children.

The Wyoming Education Association (WEA) and Laramie County School District, two organizations in the Campbell plaintiff coalition, have taken the lead in pursuing the preschool claim. The Laramie County District already operates a successful preschool program, but without state funding, can serve only a fraction of the children who need the program. WEA has adopted formal resolutions calling for "mandatory and fully-funded" pre-k programs and "trained and certified/credentialed" teachers, administrators and support staff for those programs.

Wyoming joins a growing list of states in which plaintiffs are pursuing state funding for preschool through school funding litigation. Cases are currently pending in Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky and Nebraska, and cases are in the preparation stage in several other states as well.