Altoona Hosts Governor Tony Evers for Back to School Visit

ALTOONA, Wis. (WCFW) – Altoona Elementary School hosted a visit from Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday as part of his statewide back to school tour.

District officials began the visit with a presentation on how they’ve improved student achievement over the last five years. They attributed that success to lower staff turnover rates and their efforts to improve outcomes for students with special needs.

“Kids that have special needs are working side by side with kids that don’t have special needs,” said Governor Evers following the visit. “And that allows them to interact on a regular basis with all sorts of kids in the school district, but also that brings another adult into the room too and that seems to be working well. Obviously if you look at the scores, it’s a success.”

Asked if the information he learned in the Altoona visit could be applied to other school districts, Evers said, “I know the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is getting this information out to other school districts. It’s hard to say at this point in time, when there’s only two or three school districts that are doing things like this in the elementary level, to say that it’s going to work everywhere. But it sure as heck is working well here.”

In February, Evers declared 2025 as the “Year of the Kid” before signing a new biennial state budget that included significant increases to the special education reimbursement rate. School funding has become a persistent issue in the state over recent years, with some districts forced to permanently close schools and others exploring more creative solutions to their budget constraints.