MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — The battle over state funding for mental health services is underway after Gov. Tony Evers announced the budget on Tuesday night.
After declaring 2023 the year of mental health, he hopes to spend about $500 million on statewide services.
Groups on the ground say they battle mental health crises every day with sometimes life-threatening consequences. They say more money will help fund the solution, but political status battles come first.
“We need money. We need budget,” said Abigail Swetz, communications director for the state’s Department of Public Education.
Swetz said many mental health trends have been a concern for some time. In 2022, the state’s Department of Child and Mental Health found that 52% of her high school students reported anxiety, 34% felt sad or hopeless every day, and 22% reported self-harm.
The biannual Youth Risk Behavior Survey of Wisconsin children also showed suicidal tendencies. Nearly one of his five high school girlfriends has seriously considered suicide. Some subgroups have even worse numbers.
Swetz said many students feel unable to ask for help. This is one of the reasons he’s proposing that DPI give more funding to mental health resources. “Every district gets money, regardless of size,” Swetz said. “Even the smallest district in the state is enough to start with. We start with enough to
Until now, most funding has been available through grants. However, the proposal would make the funds available whether the district applied for them or not. Also, scale up according to the scale of the district.
DPI is one of dozens of organizations splitting significant funds under Governor Evers’ budget proposal.
In a state address Tuesday, Evers said, “Overall, we plan to invest approximately $500 million to expand access to mental and behavioral health services for people statewide.”
But the Speaker of Parliament, Robin Voss, is holding the purse strings. He ignores the amount his Evers has suggested, instead planning to start from scratch. In response to Evers’ speech, Voss said on Tuesday, “As you know, all of Governor Evers’ ideas are going to be thrown out as we always do and start over.”
Voss has indicated that he supports many programs that Evers wants to fund and is willing to consider other programs, but only after the tax cuts.
Abigail Swetts said the DPI is keen to work with legislatures and sees hope despite the troubling trend. “People are starting to realize that this is a problem. It’s been a problem for too long and we’re at crisis levels.”
The recommended ratio of mental health professionals to patients is 250:1, but Wisconsin is well behind at 440:1. In some counties, he is as many as 13,000 people for every mental health professional.
