CHEYENNE - More than eight years after a landmark Wyoming Supreme Court decision overturning the state's education financing system, the Legislature still has not produced a cost-based funding model, according to a leading education lobbyist.

Many lawmakers pronounced this year's work as a culmination of efforts to meet the court's November 1995 mandate that K-12 funding be based on actual costs and that the state take responsibility for all aspects of public school funding.

"They're deluding themselves because what the court said originally was their formula … could be the model for constitutionality if certain things were fixed," said Al Atkins, lobbyist for the Wyoming School Boards Association and a trustee for Cheyenne schools.

"What they've done is make it a cost-containment model, not a cost-based model," he said. "My opinion, which is not a legal opinion, is that they're worse off now than they ever were."

The Supreme Court continues to hold jurisdiction until the Legislature shows it has met the court's order, and some lawmakers believe the time has come to take their case to the justices to display their work.

"Personally, I'd welcome that," Atkins said. "Then we could settle this once and for all."

Sen. Irene Devin, R-Laramie, former chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee and now a member of the Appropriations Committee, disagrees with Atkins' assessment.

She points to figures that show block-grant funding to school districts increasing from $518 million in 1997-98, before the Legislature implemented the current system, to $765 million in 2004-05.

Also, the cost per student has risen from $5,624 to $9,387, a 67 percent jump, which Devin said places Wyoming among the top states in per-pupil spending nationally.

"My reaction, in part, to Mr. Atkins' comment is, if our goal was cost containment, we haven't done that," she said. "We've spent an extraordinary amount."

"I think that has been in many ways very good for the state, for the children of Wyoming. I think that there has been such a tremendous investment in education."

The Legislature has attempted to better fund preschool, at-risk and limited English-speaking students and a host of other aspects, including reading programs for struggling children, Devin said.

Additionally, Wyoming is the only state that pays 100 percent reimbursement to school districts for special education costs, she said.

"Court or no court, by any definition, there is ample funding in our system," she said, "and we need to turn our focus from money to achievement and results."

This year, lawmakers boosted base funding by $38.4 million for K-12 to better account for at-risk students and those from small schools.

Legislators also provided - for school districts that want to take part - $6 million for full-day kindergarten, $4.5 million for remedial programs and $2 million for foreign language for grades 3-6.

Atkins said that while he appreciates funding for the voluntary programs, he maintains lawmakers still haven't funded small schools correctly and that teaching and non-teaching staff remain underfunded.

He said the Legislature continues to resist examining a funding model developed by school boards which he said is easier to understand and more accurate.

"It does cost money, but it doesn't cost any more money that it would for them to fund their model correctly," Atkins said.

Devin said many other states fund schools at a lower per-student level yet their teachers earn more.

Since Wyoming provides funding in block grants, it is up to districts to wisely manage that money so teachers are adequately paid, she said.

She cited Pennsylvania, "where teachers were turning down an offer of $90,000 a year, experienced teachers, and yet they fund at a lower level per student than Wyoming. Well, you say we have some uniqueness, but can our uniqueness be that different or that big? That's pretty profound."

Atkins said that while the Legislature made progress in addressing school construction, the School Facilities Commission has yet to properly define enhancements, which he said will be a source of growing concern as construction moves forward across the state.

"That stuff never really got much public comment on it during the time they were doing it," he said.

The commission will hold its next meeting Tuesday at 8 a.m. in Room 302 of the Capitol Building.