Eau Claire School Hosts Governor Evers After Budget Proposal

An Eau Claire school hosted a visit from Governor Tony Evers on Wednesday as he promotes increased education spending in his budget proposal.

Governor Evers took a tour of Sam Davey Elementary School, speaking with students and staff about his history as a teacher and superintendent as well as the importance of investing in education. During his state of the state address, Governor Evers declared 2025 as the “Year of the Kid.” On Tuesday, he unveiled his biennial budget proposal with massive increases in education spending.

The budget proposal calls for billions in additional spending on education, including free breakfast and lunch for all students and investments in literacy coaches and tutors to improve reading scores. It would also provide the largest two year increase for the Universities of Wisconsin system in state history.

Governor Evers also spoke about the number of school districts proposing operational referendums in recent years, including the Eau Claire Area School District. “Our budget is proposing some significant increases in funding for our schools,” said Governor Evers. “There’s no reason why Eau Claire School District needs to go to referendum every couple years just to keep some doors open.”

Over 25% of the districts across the state proposed a ballot referendum in the November election. Some districts that failed to pass a referendum are proposing slightly tweaked versions again in the April election.

Some of the increased education spending proposals in the budget have received pushback from Republican lawmakers. According to a Leader Telegram report, Representative Rob Summerfield of Bloomer called the spending proposal reckless and said the state’s budget surplus should be returned to taxpayers.