Governor presents 2025-27 budget bill
The governor’s budget plan for public education would make the largest direct investment in state general school aids in 30 years with more than $3.1 billion in general and categorical aids for K-12 public schools statewide, as well as increase the school levy tax credit by $375 million and apply those amounts to property tax levies imposed in the 2025-26 and 2026-27 property tax years. This historic investment aims to achieve and surpass the state’s commitment to provide two-thirds funding for schools by bringing state support for school revenues to 71.3 percent in the first year and 72.7 percent in the second. Read our initial outline on K-12 below, and look soon for our unpack of what the state budget proposal would mean for Technical Colleges and Universities.
WEAC President Peggy Wirtz-Olsen, who was at the Capitol for the announcement, said, “It’s the hope of Wisconsin educators that the Legislature answers the governor’s call for investments that help our schools hire and support more teachers, school counselors and other personnel who can nurture the development and mental health of our children in this especially critical time.” Read WEAC’s Full Statement.
K-12 Public Education
General Funding
- Revenue Limits: Provide the largest per pupil adjustments since revenue limits were first imposed by linking revenue limits to inflation starting next year. The projected increase would be $334 per student in fiscal year 2025-26 and an additional $345 per student in fiscal year 2026-27.
- Low Revenue Limits: Provide lower-spending school districts additional resources of $1,000 per student in fiscal year 2025-26 and an additional $400 per student in fiscal year 2026-27;
- Per-Pupil Categorical Aid: Increase per pupil aid with a $212 million investment, including increasing funding by $58 per student in fiscal year 2025-26 and an additional $50 in fiscal year 2026-27 and creating a 20 percent weighting factor for economically disadvantaged students. The current aid is $750.
- General Equalization Aid: $1.2 billion; general aid is unrestricted funding that schools can use on any assortment of needs.
Categorical State Aids
The governor’s budget invests over $1.9 billion in these areas:
- Special Education Aid: Bringing the state’s reimbursement rate for special education to its highest level ever with a more than $1.1 billion investment to guarantee a reimbursement rate of 60 percent in both years of the biennium. This is below the 90 percent WEAC demanded for our students, which would have matched what private voucher schools receive.
- High-Cost Special Education Aid: $18.5 million over the biennium to increase high-cost special education reimbursement.
- Hold-Harmless Aid: This aid within the equalization aid formula would prevent districts from experiencing significant aid reductions from year to year that could result in budget cuts or property tax increases. Gov. Evers’ budget would ensure districts receive at least 90 percent of what they received in the prior year, instead of 85 percent as under current law.
- Sparsity Aid: More than $20 million over the biennium in sparsity aid to support the unique needs of Wisconsin’s rural schools and increasing per pupil payment by $100 for school districts with 745 or fewer students and school districts with 746 and 1,000 students;
- School-Based Mental Health. $300 million over the biennium for comprehensive school-based mental healthcare in schools statewide, including support for peer-to-peer suicide prevention programs and expanded mental health training.
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- More than $167.7 million over the biennium to help fund comprehensive school mental health services aid to school districts and independent charter schools. Aid will provide payments of $100 per pupil with a minimum payment of $100,000 for school districts and independent charter schools with eligible uses, such as hiring mental health professionals, utilizing mental health literacy and stigma reduction programs for students and adults, and more.
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- More than $129.9 million to reimburse schools for costs supporting an expanded list of school mental health professionals, including social workers, school counselors, psychologists, and nurses.
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- $500,000 for peer-to-peer suicide prevention programs to double grant amounts for peer-to-peer suicide prevention programs in schools and increase the grant amount.
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- $760,000 to increase the amount and types of mental health trainings provided to schools by CESAs and the Wisconsin Safe and Health Schools Center.
- Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids. Ensuring no kid goes hungry at school with a $154.8 million investment for the governor’s “Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids” initiative to provide school breakfast and lunch to Wisconsin’s kids at no cost.
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- $147.7 million to fully fund school breakfast and lunch for all K-12 kids with no stigma and at no cost to them.
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- $500,000 over the biennium to support Farm to School grant program-eligible state match activities that seek to improve student health and nutrition.
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- $6.1 million for school breakfast reimbursement at $0.15 cents per meal under currently law and extend eligibility to independent charter schools and state residential schools operated by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
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- $458,900 over the biennium to fully reimburse school districts for the cost of providing school-day milk.
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- $250,000 for grants to help school districts and independent charter schools replace water fountains with water bottle filling stations with filtration systems to reduce contaminants in water, including lead and chlorine.
- Financial Literacy. $5 million over the biennium for his “Do the Math” personal financial literacy initiative.
- Reading & Literacy. $80 million over the biennium for literacy coaches, diagnostic assessments in reading, and one-on-one intensive literacy tutoring, among other critical efforts, including marshalling the $50 million earmarked in the 2023-25 state budget but was never released.
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- $2.2 million over the biennium to The Literacy Lab and $1 million over the biennium to Reach Out and Read through the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
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- $1.4 million over the biennium for Wisconsin Literacy to improve adult literacy through expert trainings, personalized consultations, and workforce connections.
- Recruit & Retain WI Educators. Provides funds for “Grow Your Own” initiatives, incentivizes school districts to participate in the state’s new teacher apprenticeship program, offers tuition remission for semesters UW students are student teaching, and enables school districts to rehire retired educators.
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- $5 million over the biennium for grants to support “grow your own” initiatives which may include providing current educators with support to gain additional higher education credits, licenses, or certifications, engaging with community organizations, and supporting student organizations with “future teacher” missions.
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- $9 million in fiscal year 2026-27 to provide stipends to student teachers, $2,500 per teacher per semester. Cooperating teachers would receive $1,000.
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- $3.8 million in fiscal year 2026-27 to provide stipends to teachers who agree to train and oversee student teachers or interns.
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- $62,500 in fiscal year 2026-27 for future librarian stipends to school library students engaged in supervised placement as part of relevant preparatory program.
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- $1.6 million over the biennium to enhance support for peer review and mentoring of early career teachers.
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- $500,000 over the biennium to support Educator Rising chapters to encourage the next generation of teachers. Additionally, require that teacher apprenticeship be an eligible pathway to licensure for aspiring teachers in Wisconsin.
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- $2 million over the biennium through DWD’s Fast Forward program to incentivize school districts to offer teacher apprentice opportunities. Districts may use funding for expenses related to hiring teacher apprentices and for advancing teacher training in preparation for potential teacher apprentices.
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- Require the UW System to offer tuition remission for any semester in which a student is engaged in student teaching as part of the educator preparatory program.
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- Allow school districts to rehire retired educators, if (a) at least 30 days have passed since the employee left employment; (b) at the time of retirement, the employee does not have an agreement to return to employment; and (c) upon returning to work, the employee elects to not become a participating employee and continue receiving their annuity.
- Officers in MPS. Sets out a apportionment plan for MPS and the city of Milwaukee for school resource officers in schools (25 officers are required under current law).
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- For school days, the greater of 25 percent of the costs or $400,000, as indexed to inflation, to MPS and the remainder to the City of Milwaukee.
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- For nonschool days, 100 percent to the City of Milwaukee.
- Career & Technical Education. $10 million over the biennium to support career and technical education opportunities for high school students.
- Computer Science Education. $10 million over the biennium for grants to school districts to access computer science curriculum, among several other categorical aid provisions. This requires schools to offer at least one computer science course (with computer programming or coding) to students in grades 9-12.
- Out-of-School-Time Grant Program: Reducing chronic absenteeism ($20M over the biennium).
- Early Childhood Special Education: Reimbursing mandated special education services to children with disabilities in early childhood education ($10M over the biennium).
- Cardiac Emergencies. Requires schools to have a response plan along with other equipment to respond to a crisis.
- Graduation Ceremonies. Prohibits exclusions to participate in graduation due to failure to pay outstanding fees.
- Period Products. Requires schools to provide period products to any pupil at no charge.
- More Early Childhood Provisions. In addition to early literacy tutoring grants and early childhood special education coaches, the budget plan would transfer the Head Start state supplement from the DPI to the Department of Children and Families and require the DPI to create a model community-based approach 4K contract by January 2026.
Vouchers
- Voucher Enrollment Pause. Caps the total number of pupils who may participate in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, the Racine Parental Choice Program, the statewide parental choice program & the Special Needs Scholarship Program at the number of pupils who attended a private school under the program in the 2025–26 school year.
- Eliminate Move to Lift Caps. Eliminates the voucher sunset provision set to take effect next school year. Currently pupil participation is limited at 10 percent of a school district’s membership, but that limit is set to expire next year.
- Changes Payment Index. Changes the annual adjustment for per pupil payments to voucher programs, privately run charter schools, full-time open enrollment and whole grade sharing agreements so that payment is the sum of the per member revenue limit increase that applies to school districts in that school year, if any, and the increase in the per member amount of general per pupil aid paid to school districts between the previous school year and the current school year, if any.
- Per Pupil Payment & Transfer Amount Based on Actual Costs. Eliminates the alternative Special Needs Voucher per pupil payment amount and Open Enrollment Payment transfer amount based on the actual costs to educate the pupil. The payment amount would be the same for all pupils. In the 2024–25 school year, the amount set by law is $15,409.
- Teacher Licensure. Voucher programs would be required to have teachers to hold licenses or permits issued by the DPI by 2028.
- Religious Opt-Out. Allows voucher student to refrain from participating in religious activities.
- Accreditation. Requires schools that take taxpayer funding through special needs vouchers to be accredited.
Coming Next: Unpacking Technical College & University Provisions in the Budget Proposal