Senator Bill Lieske (R-Lonsdale) today responded to flatlined student test scores released this morning. Results show just 50% of students can read and 45% are proficient in math across the state. That’s a drop of about 10% in each area since 2019, when scores were already trending downward.    

“The issue is clearly not money – the legislature has provided significant funding increases for education year after year,” Senator Lieske said. “The issue is that we have drifted away from the fundamentals of reading, writing, and mathematics, and become distracted by controversial issues that shouldn’t be in the classroom. Covid was challenging, but excessive, expensive mandates and these classroom distractions have made things far worse. It’s time we return our focus to student achievement above all.”

During the 2023 session, Senate Republicans proposed the Students’ First plan which funded students without mandates and put $100 million towards literacy training for teachers and students to get them back on track.Schools sounded the alarm that the mandates in the Democrats’ education bills along with their one-party control agenda would leave schools underfunded. One suburban superintendent told his school board, “This is potentially one of the most damaging sessions I’ve seen since I’ve been a superintendent.”