WYOMING – Sublette County School District No. 1 was one of 18 Wyoming districts that posted graduation rates of 90 percent or above last year, the Wyoming Department of Education announced in a release on Tuesday.

SCSD1 registered a 93.7 percent graduation rate, the ninth-highest in Wyoming as the state’s graduation rate increased to 82.3 percent – the seventh consecutive year of improvement.

Sublette County School District No. 9 posted the state’s fourth-best rate at 95.6 percent.

Of the 79 expected cohort graduates during the 2019-20 academic year inside SCSD1, 74 graduated. Broken down further within the district, 63 of 66 expected cohorts graduated from Pinedale High School and 11 of 13 expected graduated from Skyline High School.

“When we work hand-in-hand with our school districts to make sure every student can succeed, good things happen,” state superintendent of public instruction Jillian Balow said. “Wyoming continues to set high standards for our graduates, which is reflected in our plan for the Every Student Succeeds Act, and evidenced in the graduation rate increase. That it’s our seventh consecutive year for an increase demonstrates that our plans, our partnerships, are working.”

Earlier that same day, Balow released a statement ahead of President Joe Biden’s announced moratorium on new federal oil and gas leasing.

Wyoming public schools depend on roughly $150 million every year in oil and gas federal mineral royalties to fund K-12 education.

Balow also cited a University of Wyoming study that estimated Wyoming and seven other top-producing states could lose hundreds of millions in revenue for schools and governments with the implementation of a moratorium.

“And on the heels of the worst economic year we’ve all experienced in modern history, it is unconscionable that Acting Interior Secretary de la Vega would now do this to our kids. I plan to call my counterparts in these most affected states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, North Dakota, Montana, California and Alaska to discuss advocacy with the acting secretary and anticipated Interior secretary to end the moratorium. I understand there may be further, similar orders coming in the near future that need to be stopped. I hope that K-12 advocates across both parties will join me in speaking out against defunding our schools. Our students, teachers and communities simply cannot afford this draconian executive order,” Balow’s statement concluded.