(a) The Commission shall prepare a consolidated biennial budget request for state assistance, including state funding for Commission programs, the community colleges and Wyoming Public Television in a format determined by the Budget Division of the Department of Administration and Information.
(b) The Commission shall hold at least one public budget hearing for the community colleges, after which the consolidated budget request for state assistance shall be submitted to the governor.
(c) Requests for state appropriations to fund the regular support and operation of the community colleges shall be developed in accordance with Wyoming Statute 21-18-102 and 21-18-203, and utilize a Commission-adopted funding allocation model.
(d) Wyoming Statute 21-18-205 created a statewide community college system operations funding mechanism based upon a statewide community college system strategic planning process attaching state funding to state interests. - (i) The budget request model shall be derived from that principle, and it may consist of two components: the standard budget request and the exception budget request. The step-by-step procedures for calculation of both types of requests are outlined in Wyoming Statute 21-18-102 and 21-18-203, and also in Section 3 of the Rules - Creating and Maintaining a Funding Allocation Model.
- (A) The biennial standard budget request shall be based on amounts appropriated for state aid by Wyoming Statute 21-18-102 and 21-18-203, including any external cost adjustments for fixed and variable costs, or other Budget Division adjustments to base.
- (I) The allocation of the standard budget appropriation among the community colleges shall be adjusted to recognize variations in each community college district's revenue from biennium to biennium. The only exception to this is the variable cost funding subject to allocation in accordance with performance metrics.
- (B) The biennial exception budget request may include, but shall not be limited to the following:
- (I) External cost adjustments for variable cost state funding based on the Employment Cost Index for post-secondary institutions, published by the US Department of Labor-Bureau of Labor Statistics. The adjustments may be made for either one fiscal-year of a biennium or both fiscal-years of a biennium.
- (II) External cost adjustments for fixed cost state funding and state funding of Wyoming Public Television. The adjustments shall be based on the Consumer Price Index published by the US Department of Labor-Bureau of Labor Statistics, and may be made for either one fiscal-year of a biennium or both fiscal-years of a biennium.
- (III) An incentive pool (i.e., special purpose funding) intended to provide start-up revenue to one or more community colleges for programs which address unanticipated and emerging statewide needs, but which lack sufficient resources initially. Initial funding for such programs shall be subject to Commission approval, and continued funding shall be subject to satisfaction of established performance benchmarks. Funding provided by the pool shall not be considered long-term, regardless of program success. Any undistributed balance of this pool shall revert at the end of the biennium.
- (C) Standard and exception budget requests for other programs assigned to the Commission shall be developed in consultation with the community colleges and the Budget Division.
- (I) The Commission may also prepare and submit supplemental budget requests.
- (II) The Commission may also seek additional funding from state or other sources to support incentive and/or performance funds that address statewide priorities.
(e) The executive director shall report to the Commission and the community colleges on action taken by the governor and the legislature on requests for state appropriations.
(f) The Budget Division is not bound by the provisions of this section.
Amended, Eff. 11/19/2018.