MADISON– The Wisconsin State Assembly met for its final session of 2025 and passed a package of school consolidation bills. Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) released the following statement: 

“Public schools are at the heart of our communities and serve as a powerful economic engine for our communities and our state. Republican lawmakers have spent the last 15 years intentionally defunding our schools, and now they want to close them. Let’s be clear: failing to fund the schools fails Wisconsin’s children, drives up housing costs, and diminishes a powerful economic engine. We should all be alarmed that the Republican majority wants to close our schools.

“Every child in Wisconsin has a constitutional right to an adequately funded education, and it is our job as legislators to fulfill this right. The Republican-led bills passed today once again move us in the wrong direction–school consolidation is a costly, time-consuming process with painful lasting impacts on students and communities. I will not accept school consolidation as the answer to over a decade of defunding and deprioritizing public schools. 

“Let’s commit to finding common ground for the common good and finally provide our public schools with the funding they deserve. Forward, together.”

Rep. Vining represents the 13th Assembly District, which includes Elm Grove, and parts of Wauwatosa and Brookfield. For more information visit Rep. Vining’s website here