The Governor and State Superintendent are promising to spend nearly $2 billion more on public education in the 2023-25 state budget, which will be introduced in February.
Whether the ambitious, election-year promise is approved, and what portion gets allocated to the state’s nearly 121,000 private school kids depends on who wins the governorship and whether the legislature agrees. Republicans currently control the legislature and are expected to maintain a vigorous majority through the November elections.
The state anticipates a $5 billion surplus in 2023-24. Expect to hear more ideas from both sides about how to spend it leading up to the November elections.
WCRIS has questions about how increased education spending will impact our children.
Gov. Tony Evers and state Superintendent Jill Underly promised to increase revenue limits by $350 per pupil in 2022-23 and $650 in 2023-24. The state would provide $800 million in additional aid to hold down the impact on property taxes.
These proposed increases could benefit voucher students, too. Existing state law requires that voucher amounts increase at the same rate as increases for public school kids. There are 829,000 public school students. There are almost 50,000 children enrolled in the state’s three voucher and special needs scholarship programs.
Pandemic aid that financed free lunch for all has ended. So, the proposed plan creates a state-funded program to reimburse districts for breakfast, milk, snack and lunch budgets to make it more affordable for students regardless of family income.
The plan also includes spending $750 million more on special education funding over the two-year state budget.
It also proposes creating a new student mental health categorical aid that would spend $240 million to ensure every district could have at least one full-time staffer focused on mental health services. Districts would also get additional money based on enrollment.
Stay tuned to Current Events for more details about the state’s proposed education spending in the coming budget.
