MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers will this week host the fourth of six virtual Badger Bounceback Live Sessions to discuss his 2021-23 budget proposal. As highlighted in a video message from the governor, the listening session will cover topics such as ensuring every kid has access to a high-quality, public education, providing mental health supports for students at schools, special education reimbursement rates, expanding access to early childhood education and childcare, and investing in our higher education institutions.

The Badger Bounceback Live Session on What’s Best for Our Kids will occur on Thurs., April 8, 2021, at 6 p.m., Wisconsinites are invited to register to attend here. The live session will also be live-streamed and available to watch any time on the governor’s YouTube channel here.

“I always say, what’s best for our kids is what’s best for our state and we know we have to kickstart our recovery by making sure our kids are better off than when we started this pandemic,” said Gov. Evers. “Every kid should have access to a high-quality education, and that starts from their first years of life all the way through our higher education system.”

The governor’s Badger Bounceback agenda ensures families, communities, and the state can bounce back and better by:

  • Directs $140 million to address quality, access, and equity in our early education and childcare system;
  • Restores the state’s historic two-thirds funding commitment for public schools beginning in fiscal year 2021-22;
  • Invests more than $709 million for special education reimbursement aid to help close the gap in special education reimbursement for our schools;
  • Fully funds sparsity aid for our most rural school districts;
  • Invests more than $54 million in student mental health programs and support;
  • Continues the UW tuition freeze and funds that freeze to reduce the burden on our students and on the UW System;
  • Expands Bucky’s Tuition Promise to every UW campus which provides students from low-income families with 4-years of school tuition free; and
  • Provides an additional $36 million for our Wisconsin Technical College System.

More on the governor’s proposals to invest in Wisconsin’s kids and education is available here.

A full schedule of the remaining Badger Bounceback Live Sessions is available below and on the governor’s website here.

Badger Bounceback Live Session on Justice Reform & Marijuana Legalization
Wed., April 14, 2021, at 6 p.m. Register to attend here.

The Badger Bounceback Live Session on Justice Reform & Marijuana Legalization will cover topics such as addressing racial disparities in our justice system, legalizing medical and recreational marijuana, investing in treatment, rehabilitation, and other alternatives to incarceration, and programming to support safe community reentry.

Badger Bounceback Live Session on Climate Change & Our Environment
Wed., April 21, 2021, at 6 p.m. Register to attend here

The Badger Bounceback Live Session on Climate Change & Our Environment will cover topics such as investing in stewardship and making public lands more accessible, addressing lead poisoning prevention, keeping our water clean, addressing climate change and the climate crisis, and protecting our state’s natural resources.

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