MADISON, Wis. (WSAW) – State Superintendent Dr. Jill Underly announced more than $304 million in new investments to support youth mental health in her 2025-27 biennial budget request. He said he would propose.
During his visit to Pulaski High School, Dr. Underly participated in a question and answer session with students to hear about their current needs and learn how the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s budget request could help.
According to data from the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 59 percent of Wisconsin high school students have experienced at least one mental health issue in the past year.
“As I said in my State of the Education address last month, the current situation is not sustainable,” Dr. Underly said. “We know what needs to be done and acted to stop this alarming mental health crisis.”
Dr. Underley said her budget will significantly invest in youth mental health and support critical student mental health by ensuring schools have the right staff to deal with the challenges children face. It says it will increase access to services.
DPI’s budget request, to be fully announced in November, proposes significant investments in K-12 public education and includes a focus on youth mental health.
DPI works within your budget to:
Expands school-based mental health services programs, provides $100 per student (minimum $100,000 per school district) to every local education agency in the state, and expands the use of funds (for two years). ($168 million). Expanding the cost of mental health. From just school social workers, all student services staff, including school counselors, school psychologists, and school nurses, will be eligible for assistance, with 20 percent of all available funding for the previous year ($130 million over two years). Increase funds with the goal of redemption. Expand training to more schools and enable more types of mental health training ($760,000 over two years). Allows middle school students to participate in the peer-to-peer suicide prevention grant program and increases the maximum grant amount to $6,000. Allow for the award of at least 100 grants ($700,000 over two years). Increases funding to schools to implement or expand existing alcohol and other drug abuse (AODA) programs (approximately $5 million over two years).
DPI is expected to announce additional budget priorities over the coming weeks. Additional information about DPI’s efforts to curb the youth mental health crisis can be found on the Student Services/Prevention and Health webpage.
Copyright 2024 WSAW. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.
