Senate and Assembly Democratic lawmakers proposed their own package of education bills ahead of the floor session that would increase general aid for public schools by $325 per pupil, provide transparency on voucher school costs and provide free school meals to students. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Wisconsin Assembly Republicans passed a handful of bills Thursday on an array of issues. Democrats argued the measures won’t solve the problems facing Wisconsinites and unveiled their own proposals. 

The Assembly floor session is the first since lawmakers broke for the summer after completing the state budget. The Senate does not plan to meet this month, and Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) told reporters during a press conference that it was a “shame” they wouldn’t. She said she has had conversations about meeting in October. 

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) said Republicans’ agenda for Thursday was an example of “prioritizing culture wars” rather than “doing what’s right.” 

Democrats’ education bills

Senate and Assembly Democratic lawmakers proposed their own package of education bills ahead of the floor session that would increase general aid for public schools by $325 per pupil, provide transparency on voucher school costs and provide free school meals to students. 

“We would like to see our legislative Republican colleagues focus on the issues that are facing Wisconsinites — issues like cost of living, their public schools and their property taxes,” Neubauer said. “That’s why we’re bringing forward this package today, because we know from conversations with our constituents what they’re really concerned about.”

The Democrats’ education agenda  contrasts with the plan announced by Assembly Republicans earlier this week. Republican proposals include encouraging consolidation of schools, calling on Gov. Tony Evers to opt into a federal school choice program, banning drones over schools and improving math education.

One Democratic  bill would dedicate $325 in additional per pupil state aid to Wisconsin school districts. It would cost nearly $500 million for 2025-26 and nearly $700 million for 2026-27. 

Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) called it the “bare minimum” that school districts need and said it would help school districts avoid raising property taxes. 

“School districts will do better under this bill than current law,” Roys said. “We know every kid around the state deserves to go to a great school so that they can meet their potential, but to be clear, this bill is not everything that our kids need or deserve, not even close.” 

Wisconsin’s most recent state budget did not give school districts any increase in per pupil general aid, despite calls from education advocates, Gov. Tony Evers and other Democrats to provide additional funding.

Republican lawmakers said they would not increase state aid after  Evers used his partial veto power to extend a cap on the annual increase to limits on the revenue districts can raise from local taxpayer of $325 per pupil for the next 400 years. Without state funding, school districts only have the option of increasing property taxes to bring in the additional funds. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau projects that property taxes will increase by more than 7% on average over the next year.

Roys said the bill is a “test” to see if Republicans want to help keep property taxes stable, since providing no state aid to schools will drive those taxes up. She blamed Republicans for placing districts in a situation where they have to go to property taxpayers to keep up with costs. 

Roys also knocked a Republican bill that would encourage school districts to explore consolidation and sharing services. 

“They want to consolidate school districts. They want to close schools, and by the way, everything’s the governor’s fault. Give me a break,” Roys said. “They want to hold the line on property taxes? Prove it.” 

The bill also includes an additional $31 million to ensure no school districts receive less state aid in 2025-26 than they received in 2024-25. 

The Department of Public Instruction’s July 1 estimate found that 277 districts — or 65.8% — of school districts were going to receive less in general aid from the state in 2025. 

Another bill seeks to provide greater transparency on the costs of voucher schools to districts by requiring property tax bills to include information about the cost. The bill would expand on a push that public school advocates are making at a local level after the city of Green Bay was able to add the information. 

Rep. Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay) said the bill would help inform residents who may be confused about where their tax dollars are going. 

“We can say, time and time again, that the state is underfunding our local public schools. That is true. What they also don’t understand, and there’s a really simple fix, is how much of that money is leaving their district to go to other voucher schools. In some cases, millions and tens of millions of dollars… It is a simple fix. It is very straightforward,” Andraca said.

Requiring in-person work for state employees 

AB 39 would require state employees to return to in-person work for at least 80% of their time — or four days a week for a full-time employee — starting this year. The bill passed 51-44 with all Democrats opposing it. 

The bill initially required state agency employees to be in person the whole week, but an amendment dropped the minimum to four days. 

Republican lawmakers have been calling for stricter limits on remote work for several years. The policies became normal for state employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Nedweski said she isn’t “anti-telework,” but said remote work needs to be managed and measured. She said agencies haven’t provided data to show it is working. During the Assembly Committee on Government Oversight, Accountability and Transparency hearing on the bill, agency leaders said remote work policies have helped with recruitment and retention of employees.

“It’s time for state employees to return to the office and do the work that Wisconsin’s hard-working taxpayers are paying them to do to the best of their ability and in their most productive and efficient way,” Nedweski said. “We have a policy that allows for remote work agreements. We’re not saying the policy is ending, we’re saying, come back, have your performance evaluated and re-sign your remote work agreement.” 

Rep. Mike Bare (D-Verona), the ranking member of the GOAT committee, pointed to the testimony they heard as he argued the bill wouldn’t help.

“A bill like this with a one-size-fits-all return to work policy will not make our state government better… Remote work policies were born from a crisis, and we all remember too well. They’ve  become a success for our state government. We now have state workers dispersed all across the state. We’ve achieved savings by consolidating physical workspace. We’ve stayed competitive with the private market by appealing to how employees want to work and then what they expect from their work environment.” 

Flag prohibition

AB 58 would prohibit flags, other than the United States flag, the state of Wisconsin flag and a few others on a list of exceptions, from being flown outside state and local buildings including the Wisconsin State Capitol. The bill passed 50-44, along party lines. 

Rep. Jerry O’Connor, the author of the bill, argued that flags are part of the reason for increasing divisiveness, and even political violence. Wisconsin leaders condemned political violence during the session after the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday.

“It’s not the role of the government to pick the winners and losers on partisan and activist issues,” O’Connor said. 

Some of the exceptions would include local government flags, those commemorating veterans, prisoners of war or missing in action, those recognizing a foreign nation for special purposes and a flag of a unit of firefighters, law enforcement officers or emergency medical technicians. 

He said these exceptions are “simply recognizing those flags that are efficiently recognized by all levels of government.”

“We should have a shared outlook as to what we do as elected officials in this building here to promote unity and not division… I think we all could agree that those are the flags that represent all of us,” O’Connor said. 

Rep. Chuck Wichgers (R-Muskego) spoke specifically about pride flags, which are a symbol of the LGBTQ+ community, when explaining his support of the legislation. 

“You’re asking every Wisconsinite to sanction what that means,” Wichgers said in reference to the Progress Pride flag. The chevron portions of the flag include black and brown stripes to represent people of color who identify with the LGBTQ+ community as well as those living with HIV/AIDS. The light blue, pink and white stripes in the chevron represent transgender people.

“I can guarantee you when you ask the people that are in favor, they’re not going to know what that chevron means, so we’re endorsing, sanctioning something that is being flown above our flag that is probably divisive,” Wichgers said. 

Rep. Christine Sinicki (D-Milwaukee) said, however, that she views the bill as being divisive and as a violation of the First Amendment. 

“I think as a body we should be promoting inclusiveness. It’s not just the more morally right thing to do. It also strengthens our communities, promotes mutual respect, and actually leads to more civic engagement,” Sinicki said. “These symbolic acts do matter. They matter to me, and they matter to the majority of people across Wisconsin.” 

Prohibit health services funding for immigrants without legal status

AB 308, coauthored by Rep. Alex Dallman (R-Markesan), passed 50-44 along party lines. The bill would prohibit state, county, village, long-term care district and federal funds from being used to subsidize, reimburse or provide compensation for any health care services for a person not lawfully in the United States.

Dallman said at a press conference that the bill is meant to stop Wisconsin from expanding its Medicaid to cover immigrants without legal status. Wisconsin already doesn’t allow this. 

“This is going to take a step forward to say that we are going to again keep these funds available for our citizens who are paying in all these dollars,” Dallman said. 

Advocates expressed concerns to the Examiner earlier this week that the bill would lead to health service providers having to check everyone’s citizenship status before providing care.

Rep. Angela Stroud (D-Ashland) said the bill is “the kind of thing that makes people hate politics.”

“We don’t provide health care to undocumented immigrants. The reason we’re voting on this today is so that the majority party can go out and tell their voters that Democrats failed to stop giving health insurance to undocumented people, but we can’t stop something that isn’t happening. Why waste time and taxpayer money this way?” Stroud said. “If you don’t have affordable health care, they don’t want you to hold them accountable. Instead, they want you to blame someone else.”

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“They are not really focusing on the future. They are continuing to obsess about the past and the good work that we have done. Unlike where our Democratic colleagues are, we're really looking at the issues that are important to the entire state of Wisconsin," Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said during the press conference. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Assembly Republicans announced a broad education agenda Tuesday along with a set of task forces. The slate of proposals they plan to advance this fall includes one to encourage school district consolidation and one to push Gov. Tony Evers to opt into a federal school choice program, though exact bill details were scant. Among the new task forces is one that pursues goals similar to those of a Republican committee established this year to improve government efficiency.

As Wisconsin lawmakers return from their summer break, they are beginning to roll out their goals for the rest of the legislative session through early 2026. Democratic lawmakers have also been rolling out  bills, including a package to cancel Walker-era labor laws and one that would reauthorize the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program. 

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rocherster) knocked Democrats’ proposals at the press conference Tuesday. 

“I’ve been watching over the course of the past several weeks as my Democratic colleagues have been talking about what they would like to accomplish this fall and the vast majority of things they’ll be introducing are repealing some good things that we have done,” Vos said. “They are not really focusing on the future. They are continuing to obsess about the past and the good work that we have done. Unlike where our Democratic colleagues are, we’re really looking at the issues that are important to the entire state of Wisconsin.” 

Republicans’ education proposals seek to address a number of issues.

Rep. Amanda Nedweski (R-Pleasant Prairie) said new GOP legislation seeks to help address financial issues school districts are facing by encouraging them to look at consolidating and sharing services. 

Currently, there are 421 public school districts across the state. Nedweski said that given declining enrollment, that number may need to be cut. 

“We have lost 53,000 students over the last decade,” Nedweski said, “Because student enrollment is the primary driver of our state’s school funding formula, districts experiencing declining enrollment receive less money in state aid.” 

As state support for education has declined, Wisconsin school districts have increasingly had to go to referendum to ask for additional funding from local property taxpayers. Public school advocates blame record-breaking  referendum drives on state funding not keeping pace with inflation. During the most recent state budget, Democrats and advocates called for additional per pupil funding for public schools, but Republicans rejected it and provided no increase to schools’ general state aid.

“Democrats might argue that the solution is something to throw more money at the problem, but it does not solve the issue that there are just less kids being born today than there were 20 years ago,” Nedweski said. “It’s a birth rate issue as enrollment continues to decline, especially in smaller rural districts. Many schools will face difficult decisions, and our goal is to provide support and give tools, remove barriers, and create incentives for voluntary consolidation.”

Nedweski argued that consolidation would help address the “cycle of referendum.” 

She pointed to her own district as an example, saying she has seven single-school K-8 school districts and two school districts that are high schools. 

“That’s a lot of administrative costs and a lot of redundant services and money being spent that couldn’t be going to teachers and into the classroom, so many of them have gone to referendum over the last couple of years, some have been successful, some have failed,” Nedweski said. “We’re seeing a failure rate increase and consolidation cases like these could lower overhead, reduce costs and allow schools to serve students more efficiently and more effectively.” 

She said the specifics of the financial incentives are still being worked out, but will include providing state funds to help consolidating districts equalize their mill rates if they vary, a grant program for school districts exploring consolidation and potentially a policy related to “grade sharing,” among two or more school districts. 

“We are still sort of polishing up some of this policy that we really have taken input from people all around the state from administrators, even educators,” Nedweski said. 

A bill from Rep. Jessie Rodriguez (R-Oak Creek) will instruct Evers to opt into a new federal school choice tax credit program. 

A provision in the federal law signed by Trump in July and that goes into effect in 2027, will provide a dollar-to-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 to people who donate to a qualifying “scholarship granting program” to support taxpayer-financed private-school vouchers. Governors have until Jan. 1, 2027 to opt into the program.

“This program isn’t about one educational school,” Rodriguez said. “Instead, it helps public, private, charter and even homeschool families access the tools they need to help their kids succeed.”

Rodriguez noted that the scholarships can be used for tutoring, transportation costs, supplemental courses and other costs. 

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Evers has already said he will not opt Wisconsin into the program. If the bill were passed by the Senate and Assembly instructing Evers to take action, he could veto the legislation. 

Rodriguez called on Evers to reconsider.

“He claims that opting our state in would be ‘catastrophic’ to public schools, but the federal tax credit can benefit students in private and public schools alike,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “Having Wisconsin join this federal program should be a slam dunk!… This is a chance to bring more resources into our classrooms — public, private, rural and urban — to help our children succeed.”

Teachers Bill of Rights and other bills

Rep. William Penterman (R-Hustisford) is authoring a bill that would implement a “Teacher’s Bill of Rights” that he said would seek to ensure teachers have recourses when  students exhibit disruptive or violent behavior. The language of the bill isn’t yet available.

“Every teacher needs to be safe in his or her classroom, so there needs to be a policy in place,” Penterman said. “What is the recourse if I, as a teacher, send a student away for some sort of violent, disruptive behavior? Teachers and administration need to be on the exact same page. We’re still finalizing some of the details, so I look forward to sharing the final bill with you when it comes out.” 

Rep. Joel Kitchens (R-Sturgeon Bay) said lawmakers will try to help address disparities in math performance by passing legislation similar to a new reading instruction law, but for math. He said the bill will seek to implement screeners to help catch students who are struggling early and put them on an individualized plan to help catch them up. 

“This bill is not going to be the full solution to the problem, but I think it’s a very good first step,” Kitchens said.

Kitchens said he also plans to introduce a bill to ban drones from flying over schools without written permission from school administrators following some complaints from constituents.  

“This is both a safety and a privacy issue,” Kitchens said. 

Another bill from Rep. Dave Murphy (R-Greenville) seeks to make it easier for students to participate in college dual enrollment courses. 

Vos said the bills do not negate Wisconsin’s local control policies for school districts. 

“We always stood strongly in favor of that, but there are some statewide standards,” Vos said. “As an example, if you look at protecting teachers, I think that’s very easy for us to say. It doesn’t matter if you teach in Milwaukee or Burlington, River Falls or Rice Lake, you should have the same protections to ensure that if a disruptive student happens at your school where it’s taking its division and that they’re standing behind you.”

Vos said that the goal of his caucus is to release bill drafts over the next two weeks, then move them through the public hearing process in time to be considered during an October floor session. 

The bills would also need to advance in the Senate.

“We are the ones who work a little bit faster in the Assembly, but an awful lot of things become  law because of our partnership with the state Senate…  I am extremely confident by February, when we adjourn, we will have produced a good package of bills we can all stand behind,” Vos said. 

Speakers’ task forces

The lawmakers also announced the creation of four bipartisan task forces by Vos, including one focused on protecting children online, one seeking to make state government more efficient using artificial intelligence, one to better elder services and one that will explore how to rework the state’s rulemaking process after a recent state Supreme Court ruling took away some of lawmakers’ power to block rules. 

The task forces will meet this fall with the goal of wrapping up their work by the end of the year.

The rulemaking task force will be chaired by Rep. Brent Jacobson (R-Mosinee). He said the task force will seek to identify agencies with broad rulemaking powers that may be “better left to the Legislature,” to strengthen standing committee review of rules and to write a constitutional amendment proposal that will reimplement the Joint Committee on the Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR). 

Jacobson said the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s Evers v. Marklein II decision in July — which found that state laws giving JCRAR broad powers to block administrative rules indefinitely were unconstitutional — was a “180-turn” on the rulemaking process. 

The Evers administration has  taken steps after the ruling to implement rules without the approval of legislative committees. Republican lawmakers have, in turn, tried to block the implementation of the rules, including a committee last week calling on the Evers administration to drop a proposed rule language change that would replace the phrases “mother” and “woman” with “member” and “father” with “other parent.”

Jacobson made an appeal to Democrats, noting the Evers will not be in office come 2027. 

“There could be a Republican in the governor’s office after next year’s election, and this topic could be one of Democrats’ top priorities next session,” Jacobson said. “With an open governor’s race, we have an opportunity for a bipartisan revamp of the way we hold bureaucrats accountable in Wisconsin.” 

Rep. Patrick Snyder (R-Weston) will chair a task force dedicated to looking at elder services. Rep. Lindee Brill (R-Sheboygan Falls) will chair a task force on “protecting kids.”

“We face a rising youth mental health crisis in our state. We recognize that social media and unrestricted access to the internet has opened a deep chasm into our family structure and filled it with mindless or even dangerous content,” Brill said. “As so many forces try to rip families apart and divide them from each other, we have an obligation to work diligently to keep families together, connected, informed and strong.”

Rep. Jim Piwowarczyk (R – Hubertus) will chair a task force on government efficiency and modernization. It is different from, though related to, a committee formed in the last legislative session that mirrored the federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Wisconsin’s version is called the Government Oversight, Accountability and Transparency Committee (GOAT). 

The Speaker’s Task Force on Government Efficiency and Modernization will specifically look at ways to replace outdated processes with modern tools, reduce administrative overhead through automation, integrate systems and use data to predict demand and allocate resources more effectively. 

The GOAT Committee also has a goal of working to eliminate government inefficiency.

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