The new school year is almost here! Summer picnics and BBQs are ending, but the new school year signals an exciting new beginning. It means new teachers, new friends, new extracurricular activities, and more. While I was always sad to see summer end, I always looked forward to the new school year with hope and excitement.

Depending on your school district, you may see some changes this year during the school day related to cell phones. Thanks to a new bipartisan law, school districts are required, at minimum, to prohibit cell phone use during instructional time. Some school districts went further and have implemented a full bell-to-bell cell phone ban. I am hopeful that this new law will minimize distractions to increase learning, encourage classroom participation, and foster additional friendships.

In the most recent state budget, school districts received $1.4 billion in new, spendable resources. Specifically, we increased funding for special education by more than 47%, a $550 million increase. Thanks to our historic investment, special education costs will be reimbursed at the highest level since at least 1996 and special education costs for our highest need students will be reimbursed at the highest level ever.

We also made investments in literacy initiatives to ensure our teachers are fully equipped to teach reading and students are given the best opportunity to succeed. We increased funding for mental health services and fully funded sparsity aid.

In addition, because of Governor Evers' 400 year veto, school districts have the authority to generate and spend an additional $325 per student this year. The cost of this funding increase is completely paid for by local property taxpayers. I supported legislation to eliminate these automatic property tax increases, but the bill was vetoed by the Governor. We were able to find common ground with the Governor in the spring and tried to provide additional funding to reduce the property tax impact of the Governor's action. Unfortunately, the proposal was defeated on the Senate floor with all Senate Democrats voting against the agreement.

It is important to note that more money and resources for education doesn't necessarily correlate to more money for your local school district. Many school districts in the 17th Senate District are facing declining enrollment. The school funding formula is driven by the number of students a school district has. As enrollment declines, the total amount of money a school district is able to generate decreases with it. This is why so many school districts are going to referendum.

Despite being able to generate less revenue, district overhead costs remain the same or, with inflation, increase. School districts still need the same number of teachers, the same number of buses, and the lights must be kept on in the same number of buildings.

Under current law, asking local voters if they want to maintain current operations for fewer kids through referendums is the only way to increase school district budgets when enrollment is declining. Districts are trying to increase the size of their budgets, even as enrollment is declining.

I continue to meet with my school districts to hear about the challenges they are facing and how I can support their work in the State Senate.

Most importantly, I want to wish a happy new school year to all of our teachers, students, staff, and families. I hope everyone has a great year!