 - The cap that was placed on the number of dual enrollment courses Fremont County students could participate in last year has been lifted as a result of a provision in the Wyoming Legislature’s school finance recalibration bill, local school officials heard this week. ){kind=link}
(Riverton, WY) – The cap that was placed on the number of dual enrollment courses Fremont County students could participate in last year has been lifted as a result of a provision in the Wyoming Legislature’s school finance recalibration bill, local school officials heard this week.
The new law says the Wyoming Department of Education will now reimburse school districts for their dual enrollment expenses.
‘Great news’
Previously, the Central Wyoming College Board of Cooperative Higher Education Services covered dual enrollment costs in Fremont County, and that organization is supported by local property tax revenues, which decreased last year, leading to the decision to limit dual enrollment offerings.
Now, “with the state taking over that dual enrollment expense, the cap will go away,” CWC BOCHES Program Director Johnson told the Riverton School Board this week.
“(It’s) great news,” Johnson said. “This is the first time the state has funded dual enrollment at all. So we’re pretty excited about that.”
ACT
Because CWC BOCHES doesn’t have to fund dual enrollments this year, Johnson said the organization will be able to resume providing one free ACT test to Fremont County students – another offering that was eliminated last year due to the reduction in property tax revenues.
CWC BOCHES also plans to spend extra money on professional development this year, Johnson said – but even after that, about $54,000 will still be available in the program budget for unanticipated expenses.
That money “isn’t earmarked for anything specifically,” Johnson said, and “if it’s not needed, it’ll just be put into the reserves and carried forward until next year.”
Other entities
Before the Riverton School Board voted to approve the CWC BOCHES budget for 2026-2027 this week, Trustee Carl Manning expressed appreciation that the legislature’s recalibration bill provided funding for dual enrollments.
The move “will supplement what we lost from property tax,” Manning said.
“(I) wish they would do it for other entities,” he added. “But it’s great that they did it for BOCHES.”
The legislative recalibration bill allows the WDE to spend up to $10 million per year on dual enrollment reimbursements to school districts, Johnson said – and if that amount isn’t sufficient, the reimbursements will be prorated.
In addition, Johnson said the legislature included $750,450 in this year’s general appropriations bill to support dual enrollment programs for students “who are not eligible to participate under a school district agreement.”
The Wyoming Community College Commission is still developing the rules for use of that general appropriation funding, Johnson said, so it’s unclear at this point whether the money will benefit “private school students or only charter school students or homeschool students.”