As governor, Sara Rodriguez will fight to fully fund public schools so every kid gets a quality education and property taxes stop going up.

As governor, Sara Rodriguez will fully fund public schools and deliver on Wisconsin's promise to provide a quality education for every child in every ZIP code.

Wisconsin used to lead the country on public education. We can again. But after years of disinvestment, Republican politicians have starved our public schools and walked away from the state's constitutional obligation to fund them — diverting public dollars elsewhere while local property taxpayers are left to make up the difference. This spring alone, more than 70 school districts were forced onto referendum ballots just to keep the lights on, raising taxes on families already fighting to stay in their homes. The Wisconsin promise – that every kid, in every ZIP code, gets a world-class public education – is being broken by politicians who stopped doing their jobs and stuck Wisconsinites with the bill.

The Evers-Rodriguez administration has fought for Wisconsin's kids at every turn, securing historic funding increases and locking in per-pupil funding growth for the long term. But Republicans have blocked major efforts to fully fund special education, restore collective bargaining rights, and end the referendum trap. A Rodriguez administration will build on that progress and finish the job by fully funding public schools, modernizing Wisconsin's outdated funding formula, investing in the support staff our schools depend on, bringing real transparency to where every education dollar goes, and easing the property-tax pressure on Wisconsin families.

No one embodies that broken promise like Tom Tiffany. As a state legislator, he voted for the 2011 budget that cut public school funding by roughly $792 million — the deepest cut in state history, and the one that set off the cycle of referendums and rising property taxes families are still paying for today. He backed the voucher expansion that pulls dollars off the top to pay for private schools. In Congress, he's gone further: co-sponsoring a one-sentence bill to abolish the U.S. Department of Education, voting for a law that strips hundreds of millions from education and caps the loans that put nursing and teaching degrees in reach, and voting against extending free meals for hungry kids. His plan for Wisconsin's schools? Repeal the one funding increase actually built to last. The Wisconsin Promise does the opposite — and finally makes the state keep its word.

As governor, Sara Rodriguez will:

Fully Fund Wisconsin Public Schools

• Increase the state's share of K-12 funding so schools aren't forced to rely on constant referendums

• Commit to a budget path to full funding that closes the gap predictably so districts can plan and hire

• Fully fund special education at 90% state reimbursement so districts aren't forced to pull money from general education classrooms

• Index school funding to inflation so costs don't outpace resources year after year

• End the referendum trap so districts don't go to voters every two years to keep classrooms open

• Provide universal school meals – free breakfast and lunch for every student, every day

Modernize the Funding Formula to Promote Student Achievement

• Replace the outdated 1993 funding formula with one built for 2026 that reflects today's enrollment, costs, and student needs

• Create a weighted, student-centered funding formula with weights for poverty, English language learners, and students with disabilities

• Strengthen rural school funding through increased sparsity and transportation aid

• Reform revenue limits to reduce referendum dependence

• Increase per-pupil funding and restore the state's share of school costs

Respect and Support Teachers and Education Support Professionals

• Create a dedicated Student Support Staffing Aid program – a new, ongoing state funding stream to help districts hire and retain paraprofessionals, counselors, nurses, and social workers

• Support minimum compensation standards or wage floors for paraprofessionals, backed by state aid

• Provide retention bonuses in high-need districts

• Create career ladders that help paras become licensed educators over time

• Build a statewide "Grow Your Own" pipeline with paid training and apprenticeships for paras, tuition support for counseling/social work/nursing candidates, and fast, affordable credential pathways for bilingual and special education support staff

• Tie investments to evidence-based staffing benchmarks while allowing flexibility by district size and need

Transparency: Know Where Your Property Tax Dollars Go

• Launch the Wisconsin Education Transparency Dashboard – a public, searchable, real-time tool showing every taxpayer where their education dollars go: classroom instruction, administration, voucher payments, debt service, special education, and per-pupil outcomes at the school, district, and state level

• Require voucher line-item disclosure on every property tax bill

• Report outcomes – every taxpayer dollar tied to results parents can see: graduation rates, reading and math proficiency, post-secondary outcomes, teacher retention

• Build the dashboard in plain language for parents and taxpayers.