The property tax and school funding package negotiated between Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) passed the Assembly Wednesday night in a bipartisan vote, but died in the Senate after three Republicans joined all the Democrats in voting against the measure.

After the failed Senate vote, Evers criticized the legislators, and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the presumptive Republican gubernatorial nominee, for killing his deal.

“Wisconsin’s kids and schools aren’t going to get the investments they desperately need this year because Tom Tiffany and a few Republican and Democratic lawmakers chose to blow up a bipartisan plan to invest in our K-12 schools, lower property taxes, and help working families afford rising costs, all because they’d rather do what’s best for the next election than what’s right for the people of our state,” Evers said. “So many Wisconsinites feel left behind, frustrated, and disillusioned by politics these days because they think a lot of politicians in the Capitol are only here to serve themselves. And, today, they’re right.”

But Senate Majority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) said that if her caucus wins a majority in November, they will work to deliver relief to Wisconsinites with a better process.

“If Democrats are in the majority, I promise we’re going to steer a course to a Wisconsin in which our economy works for everybody, where schools are sufficiently funded and health care is affordable and accessible, and those decisions will be made out in the open,” she said. “And we will have robust discussions, and let’s be honest, arguments. What’s happening today is so reckless, so completely reckless. If we are in the majority, we will lead with compassion, strength, tolerance, collaboration and fiscal responsibility that brings security, not bankruptcy, to future generations.”

The late Wednesday night votes followed more than nine hours of deliberation. Although Democrats in both chambers had panned the bill, 10 Assembly Democrats voted yes when the roll call arrived, after an amendment by Republicans that included disaster relief funds for parts of the state damaged during last year’s August floods and expanded a property tax cut for disabled veterans. The final Assembly tally was 61-32.

Despite the amendment, however, the Senate, meeting more than six hours after it was initially scheduled to convene, voted 18-15 against the bill. Republican Sens. Rob Hutton, Steve Nass and Chris Kapenga joined the entire Senate Democratic caucus in opposition.

Assembly Republicans talk up deal

The  funding package announced this week by Evers, Vos and LeMahieu, all of whom are retiring this year, was held up for hours Wednesday afternoon while lawmakers worked to get enough votes in the Senate. 

During hours of debate in the Assembly Wednesday morning, Republicans were self-congratulatory about their bipartisan deal-making and appeared poised to pass the bill on a largely party line vote. But in the Senate, where Republicans hold a slimmer majority, Kapenga (R-Delafield) and Nass (R-Whitewater) signaled their opposition to the bill from the start, forcing the authors to try to persuade the two Republican holdouts or peel off Democrats.

Tiffany also opposed the bill and was in contact with state lawmakers about their votes this week.

Democratic lawmakers, frustrated that they were left out of the negotiating process while Evers made a deal that could give a lifeline to an Assembly Republican caucus — which polls show could be on the cusp of losing their majority  next year — criticized the deal-making process and complained that it was a “Band-Aid” solution for the structural problems facing the state’s schools and homeowners. 

“I know you’re all standing up and congratulating yourselves on giving more money to schools, and yes, that is good, but you don’t get a prize for boarding up a window that you broke in the first place,” Rep. Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay) said. “This proposal is a turducken. A turkey that was put together by a bunch of lame ducks, by a Republican Legislature that is too chicken to confront the structural affordability and education issues facing this state.”

Republicans meanwhile repeatedly touted the bipartisan nature of the deal, the special education funding and property tax relief that they say will return the state’s budget surplus to the people. Several of the chamber’s most vulnerable Republicans, including Reps. Todd Novak (R-Dodgeville), Pat Snyder (R-Weston), Bob Donovan (R-Greenfield), Benjamin Franklin (R-De Pere) and Shannon Zimmerman (R-River Falls), were repeatedly given the microphone to tout their support for the bill. 

“It is about compromise. It is about balance,” Zimmerman said. “This is balanced government that we’re witnessing here today. I applaud Gov. Evers for working with us to advance this, and what you’re hearing is, ‘but it’s not great.’ It’s not great today. I’ll take good.”

Republicans also frequently said the bills would help Wisconsinites manage the economic strains currently facing the state — without noting that the administration of President Donald Trump, through its tariffs and war in Iran, are largely the cause of that financial pressure. 

“I think that sometimes some of the arguments that I heard from the other side, people need to remember, we are not congressmen. We are not U.S. senators,” Franklin said. “We are state representatives. And the focus should maintain on the state of Wisconsin what we’re doing here.”

The legislation would have added $85 million to reimburse local school districts for the cost of special education in the current school year and $230 million for the 2026-27 school year. A Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo estimated the additional funding would raise the state’s reimbursement rate this year to 42.7% and for 2026-27 to 50%, but added that the actual rate “could be higher or lower,” depending on actual costs.

When Wisconsin’s 2025-27 budget was signed in July, schools were told they would get 42% of their special education costs reimbursed for the current year and 45% in 2026-27. But in November the Department of Public Instruction announced that special ed costs and enrollment had both increased, so the first round of payments would only cover 35%.

Along with the additional special ed funding, the bill increased state aid to public schools by $302.5 million. Because of state revenue limits on school districts, the new state aid “would provide property tax relief but not additional resources for school districts,” according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo.

The bill gave the state technical college system an additional $50 million in state aid starting in the 2026-27 school year, also to replace property tax revenue, not increase trade school budgets.

The legislation included a $300 state income tax rebate for individual taxpayers whose state tax bill was at least that much in 2024.

It also would have made tip income and overtime pay exempt from state income taxes, mirroring federal tax policies that have been enacted under President Donald Trump.

On the Assembly floor, Democrats argued that the package would turn the current surplus into a budget deficit within three years, that the tax rebates would barely be a drop in the bucket for struggling Wisconsinites and that the poorest residents of the state would get no relief. 

Rep. Angela Stroud (D-Ashland) noted that for the median homeowner in Wisconsin, the property tax relief would amount to just $8.91 per month. 

“That’s less than two gallons of gas today,” Stroud said. “Who knows how much gas will cost by then?”

Republicans repeatedly touted the bipartisan nature of the negotiations between Evers and Republican leadership, mocking the Assembly Democrats for not being kept in the loop while accusing them have having a “meltdown,” a “temper tantrum,” “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and putting a “knife” in Evers’ back for not supporting the deal. 

“Let’s find a consensus, because the people of Wisconsin expect us to do better than to just stand up and shake our fists,” Vos said. “Maybe today, some of [the Democrats] will be persuaded by their own governor. Believe it or not, I actually was, and I feel like I’m probably a more harsh critic than the people on the left. So if people on our side are willing to listen and compromise, why can’t you? Why can’t people on the left just one time put aside politics and say, ‘let’s do the right thing.’”

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With Republicans touting it as a bipartisan deal, the $1.8 billion special education funding and tax cut bill negotiated by a pair of GOP leaders and outgoing Democratic Gov. Tony Evers passed the Legislature’s budget committee on a 12-4 vote Tuesday, with no Democratic support.

The Joint Finance Committee’s Democrats charged the bill didn’t do enough for schools or taxpayers while spending down the state surplus for short-term benefits.

About 20 minutes after the committee vote, Evers’ office sent out a press release in which the governor called on the Legislature to swiftly pass the measure he’s been calling a “blockbuster” since it was unveiled Monday. The Legislature is scheduled to meet Wednesday in a special session to debate and vote on the measure.

Attached to the email was a table listing more than 50 Wisconsin school districts and the additional special education money they’ll receive from the state if the deal passes.

The legislation will add $85 million to reimburse local school districts for the cost of special education in the current school year and $230 million for the 2026-27 school year. A Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo estimates the additional funding will raise the state’s reimbursement rate this year to 42.7% and for 2026-27 to 50%, but added that the actual rate “could be higher or lower, depending on final prior year aidable costs.”

When Wisconsin’s 2025-27 budget was signed in July schools were told they would get 42% of their special education costs reimbursed for the current year and 45% in 2026-27. But in November the Department of Public Instruction announced that special ed costs and enrollment had both increased, so the first round of payments would cover 35%.

Along with the additional special ed funding, the new bill will spend $302.5 million on state aid to public schools. Because of state revenue limits on school districts, the new state aid “would provide property tax relief but not additional resources for school districts,” according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo.

The bill gives the state technical college system an additional $50 million in state aid starting in the 2026-27 school year, also to replace property tax revenue, not increase trade school budgets.

The legislation includes a $300 state income tax rebate for individual taxpayers whose state tax bill was at least that much in 2024.

It also would make tip income as well as overtime pay exempt from state income taxes, mirroring federal tax policies that have been enacted under President Donald Trump. While the federal exemptions expire at the end of 2028, the state exemptions don’t have a sunset.

So far, lawmakers in Evers’ own party have greeted the measure coolly. Finance committee Democrats on Tuesday welcomed the increase in special education money but said it wasn’t sufficient to meet the needs school districts have for more resources.

“I’m a no on this plan, not because I don’t appreciate education funding,” said Rep. Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay), a former teacher, during the JFC’s hour-long discussion before the committee vote.

“I want our schools to get the predictable, reliable, education funding, indexed to inflation that they deserve without having to sue all of us,” Andraca said, referring to a pending lawsuit challenging the state’s school funding formula.

But State Rep. Mark Born, the JFC Assembly cochair, said the measure deserves to be enacted.

“There’s really nothing negative in the bill,” Born told the committee. “The bill gives money to special education, right? The bill gives lasting property tax relief to taxpayers of Wisconsin. The bill gives lasting income tax relief to the taxpayers of Wisconsin. And yes, the bill also gives a one-time immediate rebate check to taxpayers in Wisconsin. The bill actually helps people now.”

Rep. Tip McGuire (D-Kenosha) and Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) both made  pointed references to the bill as the product of three retiring elected officials — “three lame ducks,” in McGuire’s words. Along with Evers, a Democrat, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, both Republicans, are leaving office at the end of 2026.

None of the Democrats named Evers in their criticism of the bill, while Republicans touting the legislation invoked the governor several times.

“I think what we have before us is really balanced governing,” said Rep. Shannon Zimmerman (R-River Falls). “Gov Evers, working with majority party leadership, came together. Nobody got everything they wanted, but there’s a lot of good in this bill.”

Democrats emphasized what they said were the bill’s inadequacies, such as not guaranteeing “sum-sufficient” special ed funding that would fully meet the actual cost. Instead it designates a “sum-certain” amount, meaning there is a limited pot of money available, regardless of expanding need.

“It fails our schools,” said McGuire. “Our schools aren’t going to be getting the resources fully that they need. They’ve been struggling for 15 years under legislative Republican leadership.”

Roys — who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run for governor — referred to the presumptive Republican gubernatorial nominee’s opposition to the deal, although in support of a contrasting policy agenda.

“I find myself shocked to be with Republican Tom Tiffany,” Roys said. “Shocked to be agreeing with Republican [Sen.] Steve Nass, that this is a deal that does not help us fix the significant long-term structural problems we have — namely the way that we have robbed our children of their futures in defunding public education.”

Roys and McGuire both predicted a coming economic shakeup. 

“There’s a presumption that this bill has, and that is that Donald Trump’s economy will succeed,” McGuire said. “And I think that I am among the 70% of Americans right now who do not believe that that’s true.”

Wisconsin, he argued, should prepare for a future that includes an economic downturn in the next six or nine months rather than spending too much of the state’s projected $2.37 billion surplus.

Born mocked those concerns. “We cut taxes again and you say, ‘Oh, you’re going to break us. You’re going to be bankrupt. Structural deficit. Oh my goodness. The sky is falling,’” he said. “Oh, next budget. More surplus, more Republican leadership on the budget, more partnering with our private sector partners to grow Wisconsin’s economy.”

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