REP. WARREN PETRYK’S  Column

REPRESENTING WI STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 91

Since being elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly, I have been and continue to be a supporter of our local schools and giving parents the tools they need to ensure their children can succeed.

Over the last two years, our parents and teachers have had to weather numerous challenges that the pandemic brought forward, like how to operate virtual learning.

That is why I joined with colleagues from both sides of the aisle and supported the most recent bipartisan budget that provided a historic $13 billion in funding for our Wisconsin schools – with 46% of every general-purpose tax dollar going to education. This investment restored Wisconsin’s promise of two-thirds education funding and guaranteed Wisconsin an additional $2.6 billion in federal K-12 funding as part of the Federal COVID Relief legislation. Schools in the 93rd Assembly District are receiving at least $1,700 in new money per student.

This is also the second budget in a row with a significant increase in funding for special education costs. Nearly 10% more is being covered by the state, while also increasing the state’s reimbursement for high-cost special education cases.

I also advocated for and got included in the budget an additional $1 million for our amazing youth apprenticeship program. The investment was four times what the governor had originally asked for. I understand that while we teach our students the fundamentals, we also need to give them opportunities to gain real-world work experience to help them prepare for when they enter the workforce.

In addition to increased resources, I supported several bills to help increase transparency in our schools. This included a law to create a public, easy-access school spending information portal. But other bills, like requiring the Department of Public Instruction to go through an open, transparent, public process before making changes to the statewide school report cards, were vetoed by Gov. Evers.

I look forward to continuing to provide parents access to information and resources to make sure they can make decisions they feel are best for their child while ensuring students have opportunities for a quality education.