Thanks to all who showed up to deliver testimony at the first state budget hearing in Kaukauna yesterday - and all who showed up to support thriving public schools at the ballot box on Tuesday!  Wisconsin certainly sent a strong and affirming message that the billionaires and privateers cannot buy our votes or our public schools!

Congratulations to Dr. Underly on earning a second term as our Superintendent of Public Instruction, Justice-elect Crawford on her election to the Supreme Court, and all who were elected to local school boards! School board members! Save the date for a School Board Champion Onboarding Workshop on the evening of May 7, cosponsored with our friends at WEAC, featuring special guests! Learn more and register here.

In the 81 districts with school referenda, 52 questions passed and 37 failed. And while the passage rate of teams supported by our Referenda Support Network was higher, the overall passage rate -- 58.4% -- is significantly lower than the rate we saw in the fall, and to those districts that were unsuccessful: we see you, we are here for you, and we will continue to connect the dots at the state level as we move even more urgently into this important budget moment.

To that end, we want to highlight some of the standout testimony from the first hearing, and share a recap of the testimony from our tracker.

REPORT FROM THE 1ST HEARING IN KAUKAUNA

Notable testimony quotes:

"Our community supports our schools. We know this because we just passed yet another referendum: the third referendum in eight years.  We’re going to have to pass another one next year. Honestly, funding public education by referendum is no way to educate our future generations. Districts around this state are begging for change. Please listen to them. I’m going to repeat that: Districts around this state are begging for change. Please listen to them. I’ll leave you with this: we are doing our job in Green Bay. We are holding up our piece of the sky. We are preparing our students for the future and we are hitting it out of the ballpark with workforce development. But it gets harder every year and we need to feel like the state legislature is our partner, and not our adversary. So here I am again, asking you to care and show it by funding our schools fully, fairly, and predictably."
- Laura McCoy, President of the Green Bay Area Public School District Board of Education

"I believe that services to our three to twenty-one year old students with disabilities are not only a federal mandate, they are a moral and ethical obligation to our most vulnerable children in our communities."
- Patti Clark-Stojke, Fox Cities Advocates for Public Education

- "There’s a budget surplus of more than four billion dollars, yet public school funding lags behind inflation by more than 20%. The last state budget was neither adequate nor fair, forcing school districts to referendum while unaccountable voucher schools enjoyed a record funding increase. … Since then, public schools have done more with less. We’re united in bringing home a budget that safeguards our students’ and our state’s future.”
- Peggy Wirtz-Olsen, WEAC President

Big thanks to the Fox Cities Advocates for Public Education, WEAC, and the our Northeast Regional Organizer Denise Gaumer Hutchison for coordinating turnout and having a visible presence at the first hearing!

We are also grateful for the testimonies of representatives from our partner district the Green Bay Area Public School District and our WAES board members, Patti Clark-Stojke and Peggy Wirtz-Olsen.

In formal testimony, we tracked people’s priorities, and public education funding — pre-K through higher education — made up 25% of the overall testimonies delivered to the testimony in person at Kaukauna High School. We tracked 168 total testimonies on the budget, and many others registered their positions in writing. While public education was the single-most mentioned topic, there were many important issues brought forth, and we all need to do our part to make sure public education continues to be the top priority heard by lawmakers.

It's not too late to add your voice and your story - see details below on the next budget hearings!

NEXT STATE BUDGET HEARING TOMORROW!

The Joint Finance Hearings continue tomorrow in West Allis!

Friday, April 4, 2025
Wisconsin State Fair Park, Exposition Center, 640 South 84th Street, West Allis, WI 53214
Parking at Gate 4

Note: the hearing are scheduled to end at 5pm and yesterday, the testimony of those in line all day to testify concluded at about 4pm. If you have to work or come directly from school, there's a good chance you will still be heard if you can arrive by 5pm!

Whether or not you can make it, written testimony can be delivered directly to the committee at any time this month. We recommend also sharing with your own lawmakers, as all legislators will ultimately vote on the budget bill, and CCing us so we can record and amplify your testimonies.

The next budget hearings will be April 28th in Hayward and April 29 in Wausau.

Thank you for all you do for Wisconsin students and their public schools!