Gov. Tony Evers unveiled plans Tuesday to increase public school funding by nearly $2 billion in the next biennial budget process.
“Budgets are about priorities, and that’s why building our biennial budget always begins for me with doing what’s best for our kids, and we know our kids, families, and schools need our help now more than ever to get caught up, get more educators and staff in our classrooms, and ensure every kid has the support and resources they need to be successful,” Gov. Evers said in a statement. “Whether it’s helping make sure our kids can access mental health services and healthy meals, improving reading outcomes and investing in financial literacy and out-of-school programming to make sure our kids are prepared for their future, or making sure our schools are fully funded and can meet staffing needs to keep our class sizes small, investing in education will pay dividends for our state’s future.”
The state is expecting to end the fiscal year with a more than $5 billion surplus.
“We also know we can make meaningful investments in our kids and our schools without having to raise property taxes across our state,” Evers said.
Evers will be introducing his plans as part of his biennial budget next year if he is reelected for a second term in November. It would then have to be approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature before taking effect starting in July.
Tim Michels, Evers’ Republican opponent for Wisconsin governor, said in a statement that Evers’s plan is “more money and more bureaucracy.”
“While it is nice Governor Evers is again following my lead in focusing on literacy, his plan for education is the same as it always is. More money and more bureaucracy. The tired, old Evers approach has not worked,” Michels said in a statement. “He’s spent his career in education and our schools keep getting worse, especially MPS. I will get Wisconsin headed in the right direction. I will empower parents with greater access to information and more options for their kids. The decades of decline at MPS and elsewhere will end. All schools will be better after just four years. Evers has failed for four decades. His time is up.”
