Campbell County voters will decide next month whether or not to create their own college district. If voters in the county’s special election pass the measure, Gillette College will separate from the Northern Wyoming Community College District (NWCCD), which now includes Sheridan and Gillette colleges. 

There are a lot of unknowns even beyond what Campbell County voters decide, but whatever the outcome, it doesn’t appear the decision is likely to impact Northwest College to any great degree.

The state allocates money to the Wyoming Community College Commission, and the appropriation is then distributed to the state’s current seven community college districts, based on a formula that considers total enrollment credit hours and a host of other factors. 

In the special election on Aug. 17, Campbell County voters will decide whether to approve a new property tax of up to 4 mills and elect seven trustees to Gillette College’s new board. If that board elects not to impose all 4 mills, the college will not be eligible for state aid, including health insurance, increased retirement, and capital construction and major maintenance appropriations.

Even if the new levy passes and is imposed, Gillette College will still need to become accredited separate from Sheridan College — a process that can take four or five years — before Gillette becomes Wyoming’s eighth community college district. 

If that situation should come to pass, Northwest College Finance Director Brad Bowen said it’s unlikely to affect NWC’s state appropriation, which will make up 43% of the college’s revenue in the next fiscal year. 

“Theoretically, if the credit hour production remains the same for the state, the impact should remain minimal,” he said. 

However, the precise impacts are difficult to determine at this time, Bowen explained, as the state funding is based on an allocation matrix. Calculating how the state distribution would change a few years down the road from NWCCD dividing into two separate districts contains too many variables.

“Until a decision is made by the voters of Campbell County and the college becomes accredited the overall impact remains unknown,” Bowen said. 

Last summer, facing budgetary struggles in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, NWCCD cut all of its athletic programs, including those at Gillette College, with the exception of rodeo, in a move to save $4 million on its budget. 

The decision was made with little input from the communities of Campbell County, and in a letter to the district, the Campbell County Commission called the decision “devastating.” Subsequently, in August 2020, the commission submitted an application to the Wyoming Community College Commission to create a new community college district, separate from the NWCCD. The Wyoming Legislature gave its approval in the last session, and so the initiative now goes to the county voters to consider.