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Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

No.

Republicans who control Wisconsin’s Legislature have routinely passed funding for the state’s public schools, most recently in the 2021–23 biennial budget.

However, many Republican plans for education funding have been in conflict with Democrats’ goals. For example, in the last budget, Republicans added state aid to fund schools while rejecting Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ proposal to increase revenue caps, which would have allowed school districts to raise and spend more money. The final budget passed by GOP lawmakers contained approximately $1 billion less in K–12 education funding than what Evers requested. 

Republicans also passed a “universal school choice” bill that would have allowed any family, regardless of income or address, to receive a voucher to attend private school. Evers vetoed it, saying implementing such a policy would cost taxpayers more than $500 million.

Sources

The Cap Times Ahead of November, Wisconsin Republicans put K-12 education on ballot

Wisconsin Department of Administration 2021 Wisconsin Act 58

Wisconsin State Legislature Governor’s veto message | April 15, 2022

DocumentCloud Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed 2021-23 budget

DocumentCloud Wisconsin State Budget passed by Legislature 2021-23

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Jacob Alabab-Moser joined as Wisconsin Watch’s fact checker in September 2022, as part of the effort by The Gigafact Project in partnership with different state-level news outlets to combat misinformation in the 2022 midterm elections. Jacob has several years of experience as a fact checker and research assistant at a variety of organizations, including at The Gigafact Project. He holds a BA from Brown University and is pursuing a MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science.