Governor Freudenthal: "No" to Federal Education Dollars, Yes to Protecting Sage-Grouse and Let's Make a Deal on Grand Teton National Park State Land

Press Conference

At his regularly-scheduled news conference, Governor Dave Freudenthal said today that he will not apply for federal money intended to cover education funding shortfalls because, in Wyoming, education is fully funded.

Wyoming is eligible to apply for nearly $18 million in federal funds meant for teacher retention, but the state has no voice in determining the best uses of the windfall. Once the state informs the U.S. Department of Education that it will not apply for the funds, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will distribute the monies to local districts.

Text of audio clip:"I have actually spoken to Secretary Arne (Duncan) and he appreciates the sort of irony of the circumstance-- that there's a chance that you'd have funding that, had Congress put different limitations on it or given us more flexibility, we could have made greater use of it in Wyoming. As it is, one of the reasons I don't care to be involved in it is that I don't want people to begin to think the State is going to replace that money. This is one-time stuff from the feds. One of the requests I made was, "Why don't you let me use this money to move further down the list of schools we need to build?' Well, turns out, under the language that was passed by Congress you can't do that. So, we are kind of in a position where we really don't have options, so I would just as soon the Secretary of Education did it and not us."

Audio clip attached: "Gov Edu Jobs" :38 sec.

Freudenthal said he cannot justify applying for funds intended to prevent teacher layoffs. If any Wyoming districts have reduced teacher numbers, the Governor said the actions were not the result of cuts at the state level.

If there are Wyoming schools that have laid off teachers, the Governor says that's a decision that was not forced by budget concerns because education in Wyoming is fully funded.

Text of audio clip:"That is an interesting question about whether they actually had to lay off teachers or whether that was by choice. Because their funding remains 100 percent funded under the formula by state dollars. So, if somebody is doing that, it is based on how they allocated money or how they chose to allocate money in the past, because we have not had a reduction of funding under the funding formula."

Audio clip attached: "Gov local school funding" :23 sec.

Gov. Freudenthal has expressed concern about how school districts spend their block grants when they depart from the funding model, leaving fewer teachers to deal with larger class sizes. He has urged the Legislature's Select Committee on School Recalibration to increase school districts' accountability by requiring that they provide public explanations for deviations from the funding model.

On August 18, the Governor signed an executive order regarding sage-grouse protections in Wyoming. Gov. Freudenthal said new data required a re-evaluation of the state's management of the bird and its habitat. Under the order, there will still be broad development of oil and gas mining, but that will occur outside of the Core Areas.

Text of audio clip:"You have got to understand that, I think it is clearly going to be more difficult to do anything in the Core Area than outside the Core Area. I mean, I don't think we should pull any punches about that because the priority in the Core Area is going to be to protect the bird."

Audio clip attached: "Gov protect the sage grouse" :13 sec.

The Governor said the expectation is that sage-grouse habitat losses can be offset by habitat gains made elsewhere. Gov. Freudenthal said a sage-grouse listing under the Endangered Species Act would be devastating to every part of Wyoming's economy, and he credited the state's management of the bird, coupled with good weather, as helping to achieve that goal.

Gov. Freudenthal said he met yesterday with Interior's Tom Strickland, ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_the_Interior )Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and National Parks Service Director John Jarvis to discuss the issue of the state land section in Grand Teton National Park. He said the meeting about how to proceed was fairly fruitful.

Text of audio clip:"And, now we are looking at some funding options including maybe the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is a federal fund, and some other sources. Essentially, we put together a transaction that would hopefully have a fairly substantial down payment on the front end and then a payout period over time for the federal government to purchase it. But, I would say that I view the meeting as generally positive and certainly positive enough that I don't feel obligated to go put up a for sale sign."

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