A Message from the President: Final Legislative Actions Regarding UW

UW community:

Since my last message on this topic, both the Wyoming House and Senate overwhelmingly approved a final biennial budget bill that fully restores Gov. Mark Gordon's recommended funding for the University of Wyoming at the levels he proposed. Not surprisingly, the governor has expressed overall satisfaction with the result, including the funding levels for UW, but he has vetoed language within the bill he found overly prescriptive or impinging on his executive authority. The House chose not to override the governor's veto of language concerning UW, so the university's legislative journey in the 2026 budget session has reached its end.

Additionally, as we noted before, the Legislature approved the governor's full request for state employee compensation raises, including $27.7 million for UW in the coming biennium.

This outcome represents an incredible show of support from the people of Wyoming for their university. We express deep appreciation to our many students, alumni and other supporters who advocated for the university -- as well as, of course, to the lawmakers and other leaders who supported restoring UW's funding during the budget debate.

At the same time, the language of the budget bill lays out some significant expectations for the university. We are going to make every effort to meet them.

Here are the details:

The university's state block grant remains intact from the last biennium, with the Joint Appropriations Committee's proposed cut of $40 million completely restored. The governor vetoed a budget footnote that called for $30 million of that amount to be released on July 1 and the other $10 million to be released in March of next year, conditional on UW submitting an "operational plan" identifying $5 million in "cost savings and reinvestment opportunities" across the university before Dec. 1. That means we'll receive the full funding July 1.

Still, the bill signed by the governor contains language directing the university to submit, by Dec. 1, a report from "a comprehensive review of its organizational structure and staffing patterns across all divisions, colleges, administrative units, auxiliaries and support functions." At a minimum, this review must "identify any positions or organizational units that are duplicative, overlapping or functionally redundant; assess opportunities to consolidate, streamline or otherwise restructure administrative and academic operations in order to improve efficiency; evaluate staffing levels relative to similarly situated postsecondary institutions and industry standards; develop recommendations to reduce the overall number of positions while simultaneously considering the operational needs, service levels and institutional priorities of the university; and identify any potential cost savings and reinvestment opportunities that result from any recommended staffing or structural changes."

Additionally, the university must "compile an inventory and recommend opportunities to eliminate degree programs with consideration of course participation and the number of recent graduates; and compile an inventory and recommend opportunities to further restrict any diversity, equity and inclusion program, activity or function."

That's a lot of information to absorb and follow. To summarize, the bill signed by the governor provides the full UW block grant he recommended and requires the comprehensive review by Dec. 1, but there is no specific amount of potential savings to achieve, as the governor didn't see a reason to limit the potential savings UW might identify to reallocate to a set amount.

That means we will proceed with the required review and prepare a report that meets the requirements of the budget law. In that process, we will seek appropriate participation from UW's faculty, staff, students and constituents. Be assured that UW and its Board of Trustees will act in the best interests of the university as we work to comply with these legislative directives and communicate our progress to the state.

While we have completed staffing studies and have processes in place to examine the quality of academic programs, demonstrate commitment to continuous improvement and review low-producing programs, we now must deliver to meet specific efficiency objectives. Together, we are committed to do so.

As well, as part of the regular budget process, university leadership and the Board of Trustees will develop an appropriate plan to distribute UW's share of the employee compensation increase funding in the fiscal year that starts July 1.

At the same time, it's worth noting that the governor and Legislature have funded additional budget requests from the university:

-- The School of Energy Resources and Tier 1 Engineering Initiative remain fully funded as recommended by the governor, including dollars for SER to complete its coal pyrolysis demonstration facility and a request for $10 million in state matching funds.

-- $10 million for state matching dollars for university-wide priorities.

-- $2.5 million for state matching dollars for activities related to the governor's Agriculture Initiative.

-- $6 million for renovation and new equipment for the College of Education's career and technical education lab.

-- $6 million for athletics operating support.

-- $4.5 million for the Critical Minerals Initiative -- a minerals assay lab and an advanced materials lab.

-- $2.3 million to expand paid internships for students.

-- $285,783 for an additional clinician assistant professor at the Casper Family Medicine Residency Clinic.

Legislative additions beyond the governor's recommendations are:

-- An extra $200,000 for UW rodeo team support, for a total of $400,000 per biennium.

-- An additional $2.5 million for state matching dollars for the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources to support excellence in research, education and extension in ranch and rangeland management, agronomy and soil science.

-- An additional $250,000 match for the rural medicine training track program in a critical access hospital (Thermopolis).

Also, the governor has signed the bill to increase Hathaway Scholarship awards for the first time since 2014 -- another welcome result for our students.

To summarize, our state budget request was fully funded, along with a substantial number of exception requests; $27.7 million was secured for the biennium for employee pay raises; we will find efficiencies that can make UW even stronger; we have built momentum due to the support shown by the people of Wyoming; and we're committed to sustaining the momentum moving forward.

Funding from the state is the biggest piece of UW's budget -- but not the only piece, of course. We are in the early stages of determining the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. That process will involve public meetings and hearings of the Board of Trustees Biennial Budget Committee later this spring, then final action by the full Board of Trustees.

While continued funding of the legislative block grant at the current level -- combined with the additional appropriations -- will allow the university to avoid major reductions, there are additional financial pressures that add urgency to the legislative directive to find efficiencies and cost savings. We have seen reductions in other important revenue sources, and the impact of inflation is significant. Those factors will be part of our budget deliberations as well.

Still, it can't be overstated that, by virtue of the support of citizens throughout Wyoming and gubernatorial and legislative action, UW is in a much better financial position than we would have been if the governor's recommended level of funding had not been fully restored. Wyoming's support for its university is remarkable, and these recent actions will allow us to continue to meet the constitutional requirement that UW's world-class educational opportunities be "as nearly free as possible" to the people of the state.

It's truly a great time to be a UW Cowboy and Cowgirl.

Sincerely,

Ed Seidel, President