CHEYENNE - Nearly a year and a half after it was created by the Legislature, the School Facilities Commission is taking hits from all sides: educators, administrators, lawmakers and even students.

The commission was formed to help lawmakers determine the basic designs of new schools and how much they would cost, but the new agency has encountered stiff opposition from some quarters.

The panel's draft guidelines have been assailed for not providing enough space for students and not authorizing such longtime staples as auditoriums and swimming pools.

Other complaints are that the commission is trying too hard to contain costs and is attempting to force consolidation.

"I think we all believe this is a work in infancy," commission Chairman Gregg Olson said. "There is a lot yet to be done, but we have to get started somewhere."

The commission has been pushing to finalize its design guidelines and review each of the 48 school districts' five-year construction plans.

Several districts are concerned whether the guidelines being formulated now will be there in two or three years.

"These guidelines, they're a living document, but so are the five-year plans," said Olson, a general contractor in Rawlins. "They will resubmit a new five-year plan every year. So as our guidelines change … then they have also the option to change their five-year plans every single year."

Some of the school officials' discomfort lies in the fact that, until a few years ago, the state meddled little in construction plans because the bulk of funding was locally generated and the state only helped out districts with cash problems.

The rub has come since the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that the state is now responsible for the basic design and construction of schools and that local districts can pay for enhancements if they so choose.

"There will be a great deal of debate on that over time, what's the state's (obligation) and what's the locals'," Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, said.

The decision by the commission to not fund swimming pools has particularly drawn ire.

Commission Director Jim "Bubba" Shivler points out that while the Legislature has required schools to provide physical education, it can be done in many ways. He doesn't believe a swimming pool is necessary to provide a well-rounded physical education.

"A pool at one school costs $400,000 to maintain," he said. "Think of that as eight teachers' salaries."

Rep. Elaine Harvey, R-Lovell, wonders why the commission recently rejected five-year plans of 10 districts and modified plans of 20 others.

"I suspect underlying some of this is somewhere, somebody thinks there needs to be some consolidation of school districts, and until that happens, they kind of don't want to cater to the smaller districts," she said.

Shivler concedes the commission is trying to encourage consolidation within districts and has even suggested that two districts in Harvey's county, Big Horn, consolidate, although the panel cannot force mergers.

"The state pays major maintenance money," he said. "It just makes sense to see if we can pull these schools into an area of compliance with the (recommended) square footage."

Jeb Schenck, a teacher at Hot Springs County High School, has studied how children learn best and he said the commission's models do not take that research into consideration.

"Students need to be active learners, and that definitely includes moving around physically," he said. " … It appears we don't have any architects or engineers who have a biological understanding of learning."

Sen. Mike Massie, D-Laramie, said the commission generally has the support of the Legislature.

"If the school districts just simply decide to dig in their heels and not attempt to have any kind of constructive dialogue with the commission, then the Legislature is probably going to get more involved in the details," he said.

"I don't think they want to throw it back in the hands of the Legislature and let us decide from session to session what they're going to get."

The combined cost of the five-year plans, as approved, is likely to be around $600-$700 million by Shivler's estimates. The Legislature has final say on the commission's guidelines and how much the state will spend.

"A lot of it's going to come off existing (revenue) sources," Scott said, "and if we have as it appears we're going to, a big surplus, we'll probably have to put a significant amount of that in there."

Shivler, a former legislator from the Jackson area, seems to be bearing up well in his new high-profile role.

"I really anticipated a lot more strife," he said. Only a handful of districts have had major disagreements, he said, adding that most officials realize that with the state's dropping enrollment, new schools must be smaller than the ones being replaced.

"We've lost 20 percent of the student body in the last seven, eight years, and numbers are still dropping," Shivler said. "The problem is that when you get to their district and make suggestions there, it's not always a great thing.

"But the majority of districts are saying, 'We see your point."'

The School Facilities Commission meets Friday at 9 a.m. in Room 306 of the Laramie County School District 1 Administration Building, 2810 House Avenue. The commission will take comment from about 15 school districts regarding their five-year plans.