In November of 2024, Dr. Jill Underly proposed a new grant program that focuses on upgrading the water fountains in Wisconsin’s public schools in an effort to better control lead and other contaminants in school drinking water.
The announcement was presented at Dr. Underly’s news conference at Cooper Elementary School.
The clean drinking water program, a $2.5 million dollar initiative, is part of Dr. Underly’s 2025-2027 Biennial Budget request. If it moves forward, the program will support schools in modernizing water fountains for more dependable access to clean drinking water.
Here’s what Dr. Underly had to say …
It is critical that Wisconsin kids have access to clean drinking water, and schools are a big part of that. Funding provided through my budget meets that need and allows schools to have the latest drinking water equipment available to their students. The proposals included in my budget request put Wisconsin kids first. By investing in things like expanding access to healthy meals at no cost to families, increasing school mental health services, supporting districts in retaining high-quality teachers, and improving early literacy outcomes, we are moving Wisconsin forward.
The way that we, as a state, fund public education has left schools and districts in perilous financial positions for years. The time is past due to invest in our schools — especially in this moment.
On that note, some of the additional proposed new investments include:
- Helping offset costs to districts in providing mandated special education services to students by increasing the special education reimbursement rate from about 32 percent to 75 percent in FY26 and to 90 percent in FY27 ($2B over the biennium) and restoring revenue limit indexing to inflation for the first time since 2009-10.
- Expand Per-Pupil Categorical Aid Program payments from $750 to $800 in FY26 and to $850 in FY27, with an additional 20% for students in poverty ($212M over the biennium).
- Fund the Out-of-School-Time Grant Program with an emphasis on serving students as a means of reducing chronic absenteeism ($20M over the biennium).
- Reimburse local education agencies for unaided costs of providing mandated special education services to children with disabilities in early childhood education (from age 3 until enrollment in first grade — $10M over the biennium).
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