In 2022, the impact of the COVID pandemic on students came into clearer focus. Wisconsin schools are now working to recover from the academic and mental health fallout.
Academic toll of pandemic
At Milwaukee Public Schools’ spring graduation ceremonies, students talked about persevering through a virtual school year.
"COVID messed it up completely," said Marshall High School graduate Kiela Phillips. "My grades were so bad. I was scared I wasn’t going to graduate, but I still did it. I want more for myself."
A lot of students suffered academically over the past two years. The national gold-standard test, known as the Nation’s Report Card, released its first results since 2019. In tests conducted in spring 2022, Wisconsin eighth graders had the lowest math scores since 1996. That’s part of a national trend.
"These mathematics results are historic," said Peggy Carr, the commissioner who oversees the Nation's Report Card. "This is because they are the largest decline in mathematics we have observed in the entire history of this assessment."
The national test showed a decrease in reading as well, but not to same extent as math. Wisconsin still has the largest Black-white achievement gap of any state.
Student mental health suffers
The pandemic also took a toll on students’ mental health. Wisconsin released its first Youth Risk Behavior Survey results since the pandemic began. It asks high schoolers questions about mental health and risky behaviors. The data, from fall 2021, shows the highest rate of depression ever seen on the survey.
"Essentially what we’ve had here is an interruption in the normal development of kids," said Monica Caldwell, a mental health consultant with the Department of Public Instruction. "It was paused and disrupted by COVID. And so kids have some unmet needs, of course, and they’re catching up."
The survey also showed an alarming increase in suicide consideration among teens. Lesbian, gay and bisexual students and girls experienced especially high rates of mental health issues.
Schools spend federal pandemic aid
As schools try to help students with academics and mental health, the institutions themselves are on shaky financial ground. Enrollment, which drives revenue, continues to decline in public schools. MPS has been hit hard, losing about 11% of its enrollment since 2019.
MPS, and some other Wisconsin districts, have avoided budget cuts, partly because of $2.6 billion in federal pandemic relief.
That money brought good news for schools and students this year. In MPS, some of it is paying for long overdue athletic improvements.
"We’re telling the students that they’re important, that they matter and they too deserve high-quality facilities," Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new track and field at Washington High School.
In the Cudahy School District south of Milwaukee, the federal money is funding an overhaul in reading instruction, which has helped fourth graders rebound to pre-pandemic reading levels.
"It’s not about being able to fix what we didn’t know before," said Cudahy teacher Allison Rutke. "Now that we know better, we have to do better. And that’s just kind of our motto, that all these kids now, we’re giving them the opportunity to read."
Debate about state education funding ahead in 2023
But the federal aid will run out in 2024. A big question in 2023 will be how much Republicans in the state Legislature agree to fund schools.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who was reelected in November, pledged to push for a $2 billion increase.
"After a tough past few years, we know our kids and our families and our schools need our help now more than ever, to get caught up, to get more educators and staff into classrooms, and ensure every kid has the support and resources they need to be successful," Evers said at a back-to-school press conference.
The Legislature kept state funding mostly flat in the current budget, which has forced some schools to use one-time federal aid to cover ongoing inflationary costs.
Wisconsin has a record $6.6 billion budget surplus, so in the upcoming legislative session, the state’s single biggest expense — education — is sure to be a topic of debate.
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