Madison — Today, the Wisconsin State Legislature passed the 2025-2027 state budget. Despite several key improvements negotiated by Governor Tony Evers, State Representative Amaad Rivera-Wagner (D–Green Bay) voted against the final bill, citing serious omissions that leave working families and local taxpayers behind.
“I want to thank Governor Evers and his team for doing everything they could to make a flawed budget better,” said Rivera-Wagner. “Because of their efforts, we stopped cuts to the UW System, invested over a billion dollars in K-12 education, increased special education aid, and secured critical funding for child care. That’s progress—and it matters. But better isn’t always enough.”
Rivera-Wagner pointed to two glaring issues in the budget: the continued disparity in special education funding and the refusal to expand BadgerCare—both policies that enjoy broad bipartisan support across Wisconsin.
“Our state continues to mandate that every child be taught, but this budget doesn’t fully fund what it takes to make that happen. In this budget, private voucher schools will be reimbursed at 90% for special education costs, while public schools—the schools that serve the vast majority of our children—are stuck at 45%,” he said. “When the state underfunds education, our local communities get stuck filling the gap—and that means higher property taxes for Green Bay homeowners.”
The budget also fails to expand BadgerCare, despite clear evidence that doing so would bring healthcare coverage to nearly 100,000 more Wisconsinites and save the state an estimated $1.7 billion. “Expanding healthcare access and saving taxpayers money shouldn’t be controversial,” Rivera-Wagner said. “These are common-sense solutions supported by folks from all corners of the state—Republican and Democrat alike.”
Rivera-Wagner and his Democratic colleagues attempted to improve the bill through a series of amendments. These included one to expand BadgerCare, an amendment to increase special education reimbursement to 60%, and a “Local Government” amendment authored by Rivera-Wagner which included an increase in the school levy tax credit; automatic voter registration and a voter bill of rights; an incentive for counties and municipalities to freeze property taxes; an increase in payments for municipal services; an increase in Arts Board funding; and passenger rail operations assistance. All of the amendments were rejected by the Republican majority.
Since 2011, Republican leadership in the Legislature has rejected or rewritten Democratic budget proposals. For the first time in over a decade, legislative Republicans engaged in negotiations with Governor Evers and Democrats
“I welcome that step forward. It’s a sign that we can work together. But when we leave life-saving healthcare and basic school funding on the cutting room floor, we’re still not doing right by the people who sent us here,” Rivera-Wagner said.
He concluded: “I didn’t run to protect a broken system—I ran to fix it. Green Bay families deserve a budget that lifts all of us, not just a few. I voted ‘no’ not out of partisanship, but out of principle—because I know we can, and must, do better.”
