BPDD STATEMENT ON SPECIAL EDUCATION FUNDING IN STATE BUDGET MOTION<\/strong><\/p>\nLast week the Joint Committee on Finance passed a motion on funding for public schools that included a special education reimbursement rate of 35% in 2025-26 and 37.5% 2026-27: far lower than the 60% recommended by education advocates and in the Governor\u2019s proposed budget.<\/p>\n
The motion also provides no additional funding for per pupil spending, instead leaving responsibility for any increases to individual districts through referendum.<\/p>\n
The motion does increase high needs special education funding to 90%. However, that fund supports a small fraction of the state\u2019s students with special education needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities is disappointed in the decision to make relatively small percentage increases in special education investments, and hopes that a final budget will reflect the needed 60% reimbursement to make progress in ensuring\u00a0 all students can be successful and all schools can provide the resources that students need,\u201d said Beth Swedeen, Executive Director.<\/p>\n
\u201cStatewide at Joint Finance Committee hearings and in informal discussions, it is clear that Wisconsinites support strong public schools and adequate supports for students with disabilities. The current funding system does not give districts the resources they need to ensure student success, and students, their families, and educators are paying the price.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Contact: Beth Swedeen, (608) 220-2924; beth.swedeen@wisconsin.gov BPDD STATEMENT ON SPECIAL EDUCATION FUNDING IN STATE BUDGET MOTION Last week the Joint Committee on Finance passed a motion on funding for public schools that included a special education reimbursement rate of 35% in 2025-26 and 37.5% 2026-27: far lower than the 60% recommended by education advocates and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feature","category-news","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t