On Tuesday, November 12, 2024, State Superintendent Dr. Jill Underly met with students at a youth mental health roundtable at Wausau East High School. The discussion revolved around mental health challenges that students face. This is a topic that is incredibly important, which is why Dr. Underly has proposed over $304 million in new investments — all related to supporting youth mental health as part of her 2025-27 Biennial Budget request.
Here’s what Dr. Underly had to say about the roundtable …
I am so appreciative of students at Wausau East High School being vulnerable and sharing with me the things they face on a day-to-day basis and explaining the ways that we — adults — can help meet their individual needs. We have the knowledge, tools, and resources to make a real difference in their lives. That is why my upcoming budget calls for increasing access to critical school mental health services and making sure school staff are appropriately trained and ready to address the very real challenges our kids face.
Here are just a handful of data points from the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey Report concerning the mental health of Wisconsin high school students:
- 59 percent of high school students have experienced a minimum of one mental health challenge in the past year.
- More than half of students reported anxiety (51.6%). While this is a slightly lower percentage than 2021 (52.2%), this continues to be a signifi-cant increase from 2017 (39.9%).
- Rates of students considering suicide have increased over the last 10 years. However, the percentage of students who made a plan, attempted suicide or both has remained unchanged.
Looking to address improving the mental health of our students head on, Dr. Underly’s budget request includes the following:
- Expanding the School-Based Mental Health Services Program to provide every local education agency in the state $100 per student
- It would also broaden the purposes for which funding can be used
- Expanding aidable costs to districts to allow more pupil services staff to be in schools (IE: school counselors, school psychologists, and school nurses)
As per a DPI news release, Dr. Underly also proposed, “significant new investments to hold down property tax increases and help meet the needs of local schools, students, and educators. Her proposal includes increasing the state reimbursement rate for special education services to 90 percent by Fiscal Year 2027, making per-pupil adjustments to revenue limits and indexing those revenue limits to inflation for the first time in 15 years, and expanding the per-pupil categorical aid program.”
Coupled with Gov. Tony Evers signing Assembly Bill 251 into law, which allows marriage and family therapists to work directly in schools, strides are being made regarding student mental health.
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