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Capitol Update 12-08-25 Governor Evers Vetoes K-12 Related Bills
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | December 8, 2025
On Friday, Governor Evers vetoed nine bills, including Senate Bill 10 related to mandating access to public high schools for military recruiters. This bill was proposed under the implication that school districts were not giving military recruiters fair access to students for recruiting purposes. SB 10 was largely viewed as duplicative and over prescriptive, given that federal law already requires public high schools that receive federal funds to provide military recruiters with the same access to high school students that is provided to postsecondary educational institutions or to prospective employers.
This bill prescribed that school boards must specifically allow military recruiters access to common areas in high schools, and to allow access during a school day and to school-sanctioned events.
Governor’s veto message on SB 11:
“I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to undermining local decision-making regarding when military recruiters may access high schools. I support and have great admiration for our armed forces, our service members and their families, and their sacrifices and service. By restricting the ability of locally elected school board officials, administrators, and school principals to determine when and how military recruiters access school common areas during the school day, the Legislature once again attempts to usurp local control. Additionally, federal law already requires schools receiving assistance through the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, including all school districts and independent charter schools in Wisconsin, to provide military recruiters with the same level of access to students as provided to higher education institutions and prospective employers. I support and have great admiration for our armed forces, our service members and their families, and their sacrifices and service.”
Other bills veto messages issued by the Governor include:
SB 424:
“I am vetoing Senate Bill 424 in its entirety. Currently, teacher preparation programs must provide for a full semester of student teaching during the school year or the equivalent. This bill permits the state superintendent to approve a teacher preparation program that requires students to complete student teaching for full days of a full summer session as an alternative to a full school-year semester.
I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to potentially reducing the duration and rigor of student teaching, which is a critically important part of ensuring our future educators have the qualifications and experience to educate, empower, and inspire our kids. What’s best for our kids is what’s best for our state, and lawmakers should be doing everything they can to ensure our kids continue to receive instruction from talented, experienced, and well-trained education professionals. Parents and families in Wisconsin deserve and expect the very best for our kids, and our kids and their futures should not accept anything less.
A full 15 weeks with a full classroom during a regularly scheduled school semester will better prepare aspiring teachers for their careers and likely provide them with a broader range of experiences, such as parent-teacher conferences, which are integral to the education profession. Ensuring student teachers have opportunities for meaningful classroom observation and support, guidance, and mentorship from experienced educators is an essential part of learning to be an educator.
Moreover, as I have said before and am obliged to repeat again today: reducing training, qualifications, experience, and work ages are not real solutions for solving Wisconsin’s generational workforce shortages. Wisconsin’s challenges recruiting, training, and retaining exceptional educators will not be aided by making education professionals less trained, less qualified, and less experienced—nor will our kids.
If the Wisconsin State Legislature is interested in doing the important and meaningful work of bolstering our education workforce statewide, I would certainly welcome them to revisit any of my previous budget proposals and investments designed to achieve that goal, most of which have been rejected over the course of my tenure. I will remain hopeful there are opportunities for bipartisan compromise and work on this topic yet this session.”
AB 166:
“I am vetoing Assembly Bill 166 in its entirety. This bill requires University of Wisconsin System institutions, technical colleges, and private nonprofit colleges in Wisconsin to annually submit to the Higher Educational Aids Board several categories of information relating to certain salaries, graduation information, popularity of select degree programs, among other data.
I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to burdening institutions of higher education in Wisconsin with additional administrative requirements, most especially when the Wisconsin State Legislature imposes such mandates without providing the necessary resources to successfully implement those requirements. Further, many of the mandated reporting as required under this bill will, according to the University of Wisconsin System, “overlap substantially” with existing information that is already available and submitted to the federal government. Therefore, I must veto this bill.”
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