Laurel Ballard, director of the Wyoming Community College Commission, told the Joint Appropriations Committee that the commission’s budget package was “not a compilation of administrative wish lists,” and asked legislators to weigh proposals intended to sustain career and technical education and stabilize college staffing.

The commission presented three exception buckets that together total $31,300,000: agency operations, college aid and Wyoming Public Television requests. Ballard and the commission’s chief financial officer outlined items ranging from routine IT maintenance to multi‑million dollar program requests. Ballard highlighted a $14,600,000 compensation adjustment included in the administration budget to help community colleges recruit and retain instructors who otherwise leave for higher‑paying private‑sector jobs.

Brittany Lazier, the commission’s chief financial officer, walked the committee through the agricultural of exception requests. Priority items included a $313,000 ongoing request to maintain the colleges’ administrative computing system (the governor recommends approval), a $268,000 package of IT operational funding that includes $55,000 one‑time for redesign of the common course numbering system, and a $192,000 one‑time server and software upgrade that the commission says is vital to prevent security vulnerabilities.

The commission also asked for an $811,000 contingency to maintain the State Longitudinal Education Data System (SLEDS) through the biennium if a pending U.S. Department of Education grant is not awarded. Ballard told legislators the commission has received multi‑year grants in the past but has not yet received the third‑year allotment for the current grant; the governor recommended denying the state contingency. Ballard said the commission would revert requested state funds if federal funding arrives before the budget is finalized.

On college block grants, the commission stated a statutorily required four‑year recalibration would decrease the variable portion of state aid by about $1.5 million (a 2.16 percent reduction), reflecting enrollment comparisons across multi‑year periods. The governor endorsed the recalibration as presented.

The committee and commissioners spent significant time on career and technical education (CTE). The commission requested $15,000,000 in ongoing funding aimed at sustaining existing high‑cost CTE programs such as welding and nursing; the governor recommended denial. College presidents told the committee that ongoing funding would be more valuable than one‑time startup grants because equipment, facility and staffing needs are recurring. One president said the colleges had compiled a $19,000,000 external cost adjustment request they believe would stabilize block grants if enacted, but that figure was not included in the governor’s recommendation.

The commission also sought $9,000,000 in one‑time Wyoming Works program funds (the governor recommended $5,000,000) and $585,000 for Wyoming Works student grants to meet projected demand. College representatives and committee members discussed how Wyoming Works, Hathaway and other scholarship streams interact and whether student grants could be stacked.

Committee members repeatedly asked for more granular data — in particular, each college’s “comfortable carrying capacity” and a breakdown of where additional CTE funds would be spent (faculty pay, equipment, or other costs). Ballard and college presidents agreed to provide those metrics and program‑level demand data for markup.

What’s next: The commission’s requests will be reviewed during markup; several large ongoing asks have been denied by the governor but remain before the legislature during the appropriation process.