Three educational institutions in the City of Powell have just released more than 400 graduates into the world.

At Powell High School 130 students walked away with diplomas, along with another 29 at the Shoshone Learning Center. And at Northwest College, 246 students graduated with either a bachelors, associates or certificate.

That right there represents how a city in a rural corner of Wyoming can have an outsized impact on education in the state, the region and across the world (NWC has the most international students of any Wyoming community college).

Graduation happens to coincide with budget season and property taxes, and in Wyoming most property taxes go to education, especially to K-12 districts but also to the community colleges.

Now I have fixated on property tax as one of my least favorite facets of life and was encouraged by a bill in the last budget session that would eliminate residential taxes for all but the most expensive properties (or if you’re in Jackson, the average house), offset by an increase in sales tax. I was also very much in favor of a bill overwhelmingly passed by the Legislature but vetoed by Gov. Mark Gordon that would’ve cut property taxes by 25%.

We’re paying too much in property taxes, and you could argue paying any property tax is too much. But in this season of graduation, I won’t forget that schools and colleges are using that revenue to educate our youths and adults, and are doing a fine job sending them out in the world to be successful workers and citizens. 

So, as legislative committees and political candidates look at ways to further ease the burden of property taxes, it’s important to ensure schools and colleges still have adequate funding to continue to produce the bevy of success stories our local graduating classes have produced.