Ed Advocacy Update: Keep Up the Fair Funding Fight
Wirtz-Olsen: Keep Up the Fight for Fair Funding
WEAC President Peggy Wirtz-Olsen was a featured speaker at the latest large-scale action for a better state budget, urging over 200 participants including educators and public school advocates to keep up the fight for fair funding.
WEAC joined several other groups partnering in support of Governor Tony Evers’ initial 2025-27 state budget proposal. Together, they called on him to veto any budget that does not fairly fund public schools, care for children, disabled and elderly, address corrections concerns and secure basic human needs and dignity.
“All students deserve the opportunity public schools provide — no exceptions,” Wirtz-Olsen said. “All students deserve healthy school meals, mental health services, one-on-one attention with qualified staff and a state budget that meets those needs.”
Bill Would Keep Caps on Vouchers
Legislative Democrats are circulating a bill for co-sponsorship that would prevent the reckless expansion of tax funding for unaccountable private vouchers in Wisconsin. Taxpayers are already on the hook for over a half billion each year for vouchers – without being able to elect school boards or require vouchers to follow the same high standards as public schools. That’s why so many public schools are forced to referendum year after year, to make up for what vouchers siphon.
The current enrollment caps, 10 percent of a district’s student population, will expire after the 2025-26 school year if no action is taken. While other states firmly rejected vouchers at the ballot box in November, Wisconsin voters have never had the chance to vote on the system. Instead, expansion has unfolded over three decades hidden in separate bills and complicated funding formulas.
Rehiring Retired Educators
WEAC is supporting a bill (AB 196 / SB 170) to allow retired educators to return to work in a school without losing their hard-earned pensions. The bipartisan bill would require a 75-day break in service from the time of retirement to being rehired and covers other public service workers, as well. WEAC supported a similar provision in the governor’s proposed budget, which was pulled out by the Joint Finance Committee. Legislative Democrats have introduced a bill in this area, as well, which mirrors the governor’s proposal with a 30-day break in service.
See All the Bills We're Watching
