CWC BOCHES budget approved by school board

The Hot Springs County School District Board of Trustees voted May 18 to approve the proposed budget for the Central Wyoming College Board of Cooperative Higher Educational Services (CWC BOCHES), that enables prepared high school students to earn college credits through dual and concurrent enrollment programs.

Mathew Johnson, the concurrent and dual enrollment program director for CWC BOCHES, explained that Hot Springs County Assessor Daniel Webber had estimated an increase in county valuation of approximately 28%, which led in turn to a “substantial increase” in the amount of money for BOCHES.

As a result, Johnson recommended that the district decrease its mil levy amount from 4/10 to a quarter-mil, especially given that fiscal year 2022-23 saw an increased number of students taking dual-credit classes, and since BOCHES pays 100% of the tuition fees for those online classes to CWC, Johnson noted that “we had extra money come in” from there.

“It was almost double the number of credits taken online,” said Johnson, who added that this put more money into their reserve fund. “We don’t need to go to 4/10, and just keep building up a slush fund. Let’s be responsible to our citizens, and drop that back down.”

This past year in Hot Springs County saw 77 public school students and two homeschooled students earn 686 college credits between them, for an estimated savings of $83,964.

Johnson explained that concurrent enrollment classes are taught directly by high school instructors who hold a master’s degree “and additional college graduate level credits, and they’re teaching the college courses right in the high school.”

Students are also taking classes from CWC online, and receiving high school and college credits.

According to Johnson, the classes available this past year for concurrent enrollment have included business, math, chemistry, “a couple of different computer applications and computer science classes,” two classes in freshman-level English writing, physics, American government, public speaking and personal finance.

“We had 11 different concurrent enrollment options for students, right in Hot Springs County High School,” Johnson said. “Next year, we’re going to be adding college algebra and trigonometry, maybe environmental science, and possibly some type of nutrition or health science, so up to 15 different classes will be available right in the high school.”

The majority of the CWC BOCHES budget goes directly to tuition and fees for students.

Two staff members, Johnson and his assistant, have received a portion of that budget to manage the program across not only Hot Springs County, but also the seven Fremont County school districts that serve as its BOCHES partners.

In Fremont and Hot Springs counties, more than 500 students took more than 4,000 college credits this past year, which Johnson deemed “pretty phenomenal,” saving those students and their families more than half a million dollars in fees.

“If they went to the University of Wyoming, they’re looking at two or three times that cost,” Johnson said. “If they went to an out-of-state school, it would possibly be 10 times that expensive.”

When asked if CWC BOCHES could partner with the local GED program, to help offset some of its costs for non-traditionally enrolled students, Johnson said, “There’s wiggle room,” since with the current valuations, he reasoned there should be sufficient funding.

After being told the local GED program has struggled to find adequate funding, Johnson said, “We can definitely look at partnering with them.”