ROCK SPRINGS – Rock Springs will get a new high school.

A funding package that includes $150 million for a new high school building in Rock Springs was approved by the Wyoming Legislature Friday and was sent to Gov. Mark Gordon’s desk Friday afternoon.

Sweetwater County School District No. 1 has long been vocal about the need for a new high school building, with growing pains inside the school building on James Drive being evident since the late 2000s. The $150 million earmarked will go a long way for the new school, but it can’t cover everything as items deemed nonessential, such as a swimming pool, cannot be paid for using state funds. The district will have to find other means of paying for those items.

The budget itself, according to Senate President Ogden Driskill, was a hard-fought compromise. Rock Springs High School won’t be the only school built with funding from the state more than $300 million was earmarked for school construction. While $300 million for new school construction does sound like it would go far, some districts like Campbell County School District No. 1 will need to try again for funding its construction needs. Additionally, the final budget cuts Gordon’s recommended budget by about $209 million.

“I am proud of the work we did. This budget takes the long view, ensuring we meet community and state priorities while delivering on conservative, sound fiscal policy. That includes investments in suicide prevention, increased support of law enforcement families, property tax relief and funding for schools. It’s a budget our children and grandchildren will benefit from in the years ahead,” Speaker of the House Albert Sommers said.

“We want Wyoming to continue to be a place where families live, work and thrive. A Wyoming where industry is growing and creating jobs and those jobs are plentiful and high paying. We want communities that afford its residents the lowest cost of living possible,” Driskill said.

Rep. J.T. Larson, R-Rock Springs, said the earmark for RSHS was added during free committee negotiations.

Rep. Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs, said the approval from both houses caps work the legislators were involved in during the past few months. For district administrators, the work initially started more than a decade ago and involved a near . Larson said it wouldn’t have been possible without help from the district and the many residents who reached out and voiced their support for the construction funding.

“We had so much outreach from the community in support of Rock Springs High School,” Larson said.

Rock Springs Mayor Max Mickelson says the approval is a testament to what can be accomplished when people work together. He said the construction of a new high school is phenomenal for the city.

“If we don’t have a strong district, we don’t have a strong city,” Mickelson said.

Not everyone will likely celebrate the news however. There is concern from a few downtown Rock Springs organizations that moving the high school away from the area will ultimately harm businesses. Currently, the high school functions as an anchor point for downtown businesses, bringing traffic through as a result of school activities and functions. What isn’t known yet is what will become of the current high school building. Another use that would continue public use of the building could alleviate the economic concerns that have been aired, but even then the building would likely need some renovations for continued use. Issues with temperature control have been documented, along with several other issues that may need to be addressed to allow continued longterm use of the building.

Those are concerns that won’t need to be addressed today however, and both Larson and Wylie are celebrating the win for SCSD No.1.

“Today, we get to bring back good news,” Wylie said. “This is a victory for Sweetwater County.”