Most school districts across the State of Wyoming receive their funding from the school foundation account.  The school foundation account is administrated by the Wyoming Department of Education.  The amount of money that each school district receives is determined by the school district’s average daily membership (ADM).  Average daily membership is determined by the number of students who are enrolled in the school district.  The school district’s daily student attendance rates have nothing to do with funding of school districts.  Some school districts across the State of Wyoming are considered recapture districts.  School districts in this category receive all of their funding from the County Treasurer.  They have a county assessed valuation that is higher than the district’s guarantee from the school foundation account.  Any taxes received by these districts in excess of the foundation guarantee cannot be kept by the districts.  Those excess funds must be returned to the State.  This school year Converse County School District #2 was approximately $35,000 from being a recapture district.  We anticipate being a recapture district for the 2013-2014 school year due to the increase in Converse County’s assessed valuation from increased oil and natural gas activity in Converse County.

If a school district receives funding from the school foundation account through the Wyoming Department of Education, the district gets 12 monthly payments of approximately the same amount.  If the school district is a recapture district, the school district receives money from the County each month.  The problem for recapture school districts is that their monthly payments from the County are different each month.  This difference is due to how taxes are collected from residents and businesses residing in the county.  This in turn can cause a cash flow problem because these districts don’t know from month to month the amount of money they will receive.  We will know in late July if our school district will be a recapture district once the County Treasurer has determined the assessed valuation for Converse County.  If our school district is a recapture district and can’t make cash flow, the State of Wyoming allows school district’s to borrow money from the State in order to meet their obligations for the school year.