Joint Finance Committee to Launch 2025–27 Budget Votes Thursday, Cutting 612 Policy Items
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 6, 2025
The Joint Finance Committee announced today that it will begin executive sessions on the 2025–27 state budget this Thursday. The first action will be voting to remove 612 of Governor’s, originally submitted to the Legislature in February.
This has become a routine first step and mirrors past sessions: the committee’s opening votes have previously excised 545 items from the 2023–25 budget, over 380 from the 2021–23 plan, and roughly 130 from Evers’s inaugural 2019–21 request. Many of the provisions slated for elimination on Thursday have already been cut in prior budget cycles.
Thursday’s hearing notice also identifies ten agencies slated for review:
- Board for People with Developmental Disabilities
- Board on Aging and Long-Term Care
- Court of Appeals
- Employment Relations Commission
- Office of the Governor
- Investment Board
- Judicial Commission
- Kickapoo Reserve Management Board
- Labor and Industry Review Commission
- Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority
Further notices will follow as the committee advances through the budget, including its separate executive-session consideration of K-12 education funding across multiple agencies. We will continue to track developments and inform members as those reviews occur.
Thank you to all the school leaders who attended the four Joint Finance Committee public hearings last month. Your clear, powerful testimony resonated throughout the Capitol, with Special Education emerging as the top theme at every hearing. The impact was unmistakable—education dominated every hearing, with only one session where a single speaker narrowly edged us out of first place.
Please reach out if you have any questions.
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Legislative Hearings 5/6/25
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 6, 2025
Senate Committee Hearings – May 6
Good Afternoon,
Tomorrow, the Senate Education Committee will hold a public hearing on several bills listed below. The School Administrators Alliance (SAA), in collaboration with the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB), the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance (WiRSA), and the Southeastern Wisconsin Schools Alliance (SWSA), has coordinated our positions and testimony for the day.
As anticipated, none of the proposed bills address the most pressing needs facing our students and schools—such as the rising costs and inadequate reimbursement for special education, increased operational expenses, and implementing unfunded mandates like the new literacy requirements.
Bills scheduled for the Senate Education public hearing:
- Senate Bill 10 – Requires schools to accommodate military recruiters on campus.
- Senate Bill 11 – Mandates access for specific federally chartered youth groups, including set timing and frequency.
- Senate Bill 22 / Assembly Bill 5 – Requires the inspection and posting of instructional materials, textbooks, and curricula in a specific manner.
- Senate Bill 58 – Mandates the inclusion of estimated financial data in referendum questions.
- Senate Bill 81 – Eliminates the option for recurring referenda and limits nonrecurring referenda to four-year terms.
Separately, Senate Bill 170, relating to rehired annuitants and authored by Senator Marklein, will be heard in another committee. The SAA will testify in support of this long-awaited proposal, which appears to have meaningful momentum this session.
Following tomorrow’s hearings, we will share a full summary along with copies of all submitted testimony.
Thank you for your continued partnership and for keeping our collective focus on the 2025–27 State Budget. Your ongoing efforts have been critical in advancing a unified message around the need for sustainable, adequate school funding.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.
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Court Upholds Evers’ 400 Year Veto & DPI Sends Final Letter Regarding USDE’s Certification Request
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 6, 2025
From Wispolitics: Court Upholds 400-Year Veto
A split state Supreme Court today upheld Dem Gov. Tony Evers’ veto in the 2023-25 budget that wrote into state law for the next four centuries annual increases in how much schools can spend per student.
The budget lawmakers sent to Evers called for an increase of $325 a year per student in both 2023-24 and 2024-25. Evers struck the “20” and a dash from the reference for “2024-25.” That changed the end date to “2425.”
The court in a 4-3 ruling rejected a challenge to Evers’ veto, ruling he had validly exercised his partial veto authority.
The decision had been highly anticipated by GOP lawmakers, who said they wanted to see a decision before proceeding with the state budget.
DPI Sends Final Communication to USDE
In its final letter regarding the certification request issued today, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) affirmed that the state’s schools are in compliance with federal law. The letter also included previously signed assurances from all 460 local education agencies in Wisconsin—standard documentation required as part of the federal grant process.
This communication follows an earlier letter sent by DPI on April 9 requesting clarification from the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) about both the intent and legality of its request. As of now, DPI has not received a response to that request. Additional updates and resources will be provided as DPI awaits a reply to its final letter from the USDE.
As always, feel free to reach out with any questions you may have.
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Greenfield SPED Informational Handout
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | April 2, 2025
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Reminder – Budget Hearing Tomorrow
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | April 1, 2025
The Joint Finance Committee will hold its first public hearing on the 2025-27 State Budget tomorrow from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. at:
Kaukauna High School Auxiliary Gymnasium (Door AA4)
1701 County Road CE
Kaukauna, WI 54130
The doors to the Gymnasium will open at 8 a.m. but it is expected a line may begin to form earlier.
If you are planning to testify and need some resources to help finalize your testimony you can find resources on the right side of the SAA website, including, the SAA school funding fact sheet, a more detailed document on the SAA budget priorities, an interactive federal funding school district map, an updated LFB memo on the revenue limit inflation gap, and other resources. As a reminder you will have two minutes to present your testimony, if you have three or more people speaking as a group you will receive five minutes. To register as a group, each person will need to fill out a slip and they will be stapled together by staff at the registration table. The committee does not ask questions during the committee hearing.
The next hearing will be April 4, 2025 at:
Wisconsin State Fair Park Exposition Center (Parking at Gate 4)
640 South 84th Street
West Allis, WI 53214
Please remember to email your testimony to your state legislators. If I can be of additional assistance as you prepare your testimony, please don’t hesitate to reach out with more questions.
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