Plan builds on Governor Evers’ legacy with a commitment to fully fund public education

MADISON, WI—Today, Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez announced "The Wisconsin Promise," a plan to fully fund Wisconsin public schools, lower local property taxes, improve student achievement, and make sure educators are respected and rewarded for their hard work.

"Governor Evers has committed his life in public service supporting public education in Wisconsin and I promise to carry on that commitment to students, schools and educators as Governor," said Lt. Governor Sara Rodriguez. "The contrast in this election could not be more clear. Congressman Tom Tiffany voted for the largest cut to education in Wisconsin history and the Republican majority in the legislature has not provided the state’s fair share of funding for our schools. The result of their failures has been sticking local property taxpayers with the bill just to keep the lights on, and keep teachers in the classroom. As governor, I will fully fund Wisconsin public schools, lower local property taxes, improve student achievement, and make sure educators are respected and rewarded for their hard work.”

"The Evers-Rodriguez administration has fought hard to invest in our kids, securing historic funding increases and funding growth for the long term. But a hostile Republican legislature has blocked us at every turn, forcing Wisconsinites to vote to increase their own taxes just to keep the lights on," said Lt. Governor Sara Rodriguez. "As governor, I will build on Governor Evers' legacy and finish the job to make sure every Wisconsin kid gets the world-class education they deserve, and that our schools and educators have the resources they need to provide it."

Under Governor Evers' leadership, Wisconsin has made historic strides in public education despite Republican obstruction during the Evers-Rodriguez administration. Governor Evers used his partial veto power to secure a $325 per-student annual funding increase through the year 2425 and delivered the largest state funding increase for the UW System in almost two decades, over $1 billion for UW projects across the state. He declared 2025 "The Year of the Kid" and proposed $3.15 billion in new K-12 investments, including funding for free school meals, mental health support, and literacy initiatives. But a hostile Republican legislature has blocked efforts to fully fund special education, restore collective bargaining rights, and end the referendum trap that forces communities to raise their own taxes just to keep schools open.

Lt. Governor Sara Rodriguez's plan builds on these successes and finishes the job by fully funding public schools, modernizing Wisconsin's outdated funding formula, investing in the support staff our schools depend on, bringing new transparency to where education and property-tax dollars go, and easing the property tax burden on Wisconsin homeowners.


THE WISCONSIN PROMISE: A Plan to Invest in Providing Every Child in Wisconsin a Quality Public Education

As governor, Sara Rodriguez will fully fund public schools and deliver on Wisconsin's promise to provide a world-class 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 – every property tax bill discloses how much offsets state aid lost to the voucher program

• 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.

About Lt. Governor Sara Rodriguez:
Sara Rodriguez is a nurse, a working mom, and Wisconsin's current lieutenant governor. Before she ever ran for office, she worked ER night shifts, served as a CDC intelligence officer responding to public health crises, and owned a small business, all while raising two kids and caring for her father with Alzheimer's.

Sara first ran for office because she was tired of seeing people who work hard still getting squeezed. In 2020, she flipped a Republican-held Assembly seat in Waukesha County. Two years later, she was elected lieutenant governor, and since then has traveled to all 72 counties – four times – listening to families, workers, and small business owners talk about what's making life harder and what they want government to fix.

Sara grew up in a working-class Wisconsin family. Her mom was a union teaching assistant, her dad served during Vietnam and worked fixing phones, and her grandparents were dairy farmers. She was born in Milwaukee, raised in Brookfield, and now lives in Waukesha County with her husband, a first-generation immigrant from Mexico, and their two kids. Learn more at www.saraforwi.com.