(The Center Square) – Wisconsin State Superintendent Jill Underly continued to unveil new spending proposals for the state, including $304 million for youth mental health, $294 million for universal free meals, $59.5 million for recruiting and retaining educators and $42 million for early literacy initiatives in the upcoming 2025-2027 biennial budget request.
The announcements come in the weeks leading up to a Nov. 5 election where 137 public school referendums are on local Nov. 5 ballots across the state, threatening to increase property taxes in those local districts.
Underly’s proposals have come along with the backdrop of the state’s $4.6 billion general fund balance after last fiscal year.
Rather than adjust taxing level to how much the state is spending, Underly has proposed spending more on education throughout the state, both in general aid and her new proposals.
“It’s well past time for our legislators to prioritize public education and use this surplus to support significant new investment in our public schools,” Underly said when the $4.6 billion balance was announced. “We must help our schools pay for required special education costs, increase allowable spending, feed our kids, provide mental health services, and improve educator working conditions to make Wisconsin schools stronger.”
Underly’s $304 million mental health proposal includes $168 million to provide $100 per student to schools for mental health services, $130 million for mental health services reimbursements to schools and $5 million for alcohol and drug abuse programs.
The universal free meal proposal is part of $311 million in nutrition for kids spending that also includes $294 million for both school breakfast and lunch reimbursements $10 million to encourage schools to buy directly from local farmers and producers and $6.1 million to further reimburse charter schools, residential schools and residential child care centers for school breakfast.
The teacher retention and recruitment program includes eliminating a state Foundations of Reading test that the state says just 48% pass on the first attempt.
The largest part of that spending proposal would be $46.9 million for $10,000 stipends for each student teacher and $3,000 for cooperating teachers along with $7.4 million to expand peer review and mentoring grants and $5 million additionally for a grow-your-own educator program covering the cost of paraprofessional staff taking coursework toward licensure.
The $42 million early literacy proposal would spend $22 million increasing the number of statewide literacy coaches from 64 to 100 under Act 20 along with $10 million in grant funds for community-based literacy programs and $5 million to fund staff for intensive reading programs.
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