Equitability Survey: Laramie County Schools Get High Grades

A survey by the financial website Wallethub rates Laramie County School District#2 as the fourth most equitable school district in Wyoming, with Laramie County School Distric#1--Cheyenne area schools--ranked at #14 out of 48 school districts in Wyoming, or still well within the top third.

But Albany County schools did not fare well. Albany County School District#1 was rated as only the 43rd most equitable district in the state. Wallethub explained the methodology for the rankings:

''In order to rank the states with the most and least equitable school districts, WalletHub first scored 12,876 school districts throughout the U.S. based on two metrics: average household income and expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools per pupil.

For expenditures, for each 1 percent above the state's average we removed 1 point from a base score of 50 points for each district. For household income, for each 1 percent above the state's average we added 1 point to a base score of 50 points for each district. The inverse was true for each 1 percent below the state's average.

The final score for each district was calculated by taking the absolute difference between the score for expenditures and the score for household income. We then ranked the districts based on the total score, with the lowest value, representing the most equitable, being ranked 1.''

Overall, Platte County School District#2 was rated as the most equitable district in Wyoming, while Sheridan County School District#3 was rated as the least equitable

Here are the Wallethub rankings:

Most & Least Equitable School Districts in Wyoming

*1=Most Equitable

Meanwhile, the Wyoming Education Association [WEA] last week announced that it is filing a lawsuit against the state over what it says is the underfunding of schools.

That could lead to the latest round of court battles over school funding in Wyoming that reach back to at least the early 1980s.