As school districts across Wyoming brace for funding cuts and drops in enrollment, Powell schools are in the unique position of looking to add more teachers.

That’s because, unlike many districts in the state, Park County School District No. 1 has seen steady increases in student enrollment — up more than 9 percent over the last five years.

Class sizes surged in local elementary schools, and now those larger classes are advancing into middle and high school.

“We’ve always known, as these numbers come up, that we were going to increase staff at the middle school and high school,” said Kevin Mitchell, Powell school district superintendent.

Last week, the school board discussed proposals to add a new English/Spanish teacher at Powell High School and a sixth grade teacher at Powell Middle School. They also discussed adding three special education positions — a teacher/case manager at PHS, a teacher/case manager at the middle school and a second occupational therapist to serve students district-wide.

Mitchell said he wanted to give board members initial information about what’s been requested. The board may be asked to act on the proposals in March, “if we’ve had time to have enough conversation with enough people,” Mitchell said.

He said Mary Jo Lewis, the district’s coordinator of business services, must weigh in on the proposals. District leaders also are closely tracking what state lawmakers will do with education funding, as it remains uncertain.

Various cuts to K-12 funding have been proposed during the Wyoming Legislature’s budget session, which is scheduled to wrap up this week.

On Friday, a legislative committee recommended that their fellow lawmakers trim funding to the state’s K-12 school program by 1.2 percent, according to The Associated Press. Legislative leaders expect the Wyoming House and Senate will approve a budget bill early this week and send it to Gov. Matt Mead, the AP reported Sunday.

“We’re just in a difficult time financially with unknowns to make some big decisions,” Mitchell said. “I will tell you, though, as we get increased enrollment, we get additional funds as well.”

The Wyoming School Foundation Program provides funding for the school district based on a formula that takes into account the district’s enrollment, assessed valuation, class sizes and other factors.

Mitchell said it’s difficult to know what will happen with Powell’s enrollment next year.

“Everybody talks about the recession the state’s going to go in, and we have no way to predict if that’s going to have a negative effect on our enrollment or not,” Mitchell said. “We probably won’t know until the beginning of the next school year.”

Kindergarten registration and screening this spring may be an indicator of preliminary numbers, but enrollment could still fluctuate by August.

About 124 incoming students attended last spring’s kindergarten screening, and then 160 kindergartners showed up on the first day of school in August, Mitchell said.

Board Chairman Greg Borcher said dealing with increased enrollment is a good problem to have.

Around the state, many school districts are dealing with an opposite problem: Dwindling enrollment.

“We might be the only school district in the Basin that’s gaining right now,” Mitchell said last week.

From the fall of 2011 to 2015, the Cody school district saw a 6 percent decrease in enrollment (from 2,208 students to 2,071).

By comparison, Powell’s enrollment grew more than 9 percent in those five years (from 1,655 students to 1,818).

If the school board approves the new positions, funding for the English/Spanish position and sixth grade teaching position would come out of the district’s general fund. If approved, the state would reimburse the district for the three special education positions.