Public Schools Week Day of Action 2025

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Public Schools Week 2025 concluded with a resounding bang last Friday.

Students, teachers, parents, board members, superintendents, and community supporters from all over the state gathered at the Capitol to celebrate local schools and share incredibly powerful stories exposing the gaps standing in the way of success for way too many of our kids, and the unsustainable cycle of “funding by referendum” that absolutely must end with the passage of the next state budget.

As our long line of speakers took turns sharing their concerns, organizers unfurled a heavy scroll from the second balcony of the Capitol Rotunda, which bore the names of every district that has gone to referendum in each election since 2023, when the last budget was passed. The list spilled over the balcony and all the way through the ground-level rotunda floor into the recesses of the building.  

271 districts (some going to referendum more than once). 419 questions. That’s 2/3 of Wisconsin’s 421 districts in the last two years alone. Meanwhile, the legislature is circulating bills that will make it even more difficult to pass school referenda.Enough. There is much to celebrate in our public schools, and as one of our student speakers, Leela Bourenane, put it – it’s deeply frustrating that these critical things are being “discredited and overlooked.” Now is the time to take action so we can keep these celebrations going. Our kids deserve more than to survive another woefully inadequate budget. Our kids deserve to thrive.

Join us in our ongoing budget advocacy. Contact your lawmakers today. Sign the petition to close the education funding gap. Support our work however you can. But join us. Because our kids need you to stand up and say enough, too.

HUGE THANKS to all who spoke, attended, volunteered, and who continue to help amplify the message. See below for links to the full video and individual speaker clips, and some highlights from the news coverage of the event.

Let’s demand and deliver a better budget for 2025-2027!

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Wisconsin Public Education Network