Contact: Amy Hasenberg, (608) 266-2839

Gov. Walker Discusses More Funding for Rural Schools in Rib Lake, Gillett

MADISON – Governor Walker visited schools in Rib Lake and Gillett today to highlight the positive effect that increased Sparsity Aid will have on Wisconsin’s rural school districts. Earlier this week, Governor Walker signed Assembly Bill 835 into law which provides additional aid to rural school districts. This investment comes on top of the historic $11.5 billion investment for K-12 education included in the state budget.
“Wisconsin students are our state’s future leaders and they deserve an education that will prepare them for a bright future,” said Governor Walker. “We are committed to making sure that every student has access to a quality education, regardless of their ZIP code. This additional state funding will help ensure our rural schools can put the necessary resources into their classrooms to inspire student success. And, on top of this, we provided a $200 per pupil increase for every student in every school this year and a $204 increase for every student in every school next year. We are getting positive things done for the people of Wisconsin.”

The bill signed into law by Governor Walker on Monday in Muscoda helps low-population school districts by modifying the sparsity categorical aid program for school districts and the revenue limit ceiling for school districts. The bill increases the per pupil sparsity amount from $300 to $400 beginning in fiscal year 2018-19 and appropriates $6,454,600 GPR to fund this increase. This will benefit an estimated 144 school districts. The bill would increase the low revenue ceiling from $9,100 to $9,400 in 2018-19, $9,500 in 2019-20, $9,600 in 2020-21, $9,700 in 2021-22 and $9,800 in 2022-23. Currently, 107 school districts have per pupil revenue base amounts of less than $9,400, and therefore may be eligible for the low revenue ceiling adjustment in 2018-19.

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