Wisconsin Governor’s Vetoes of Education Bills harm Milwaukee’s most underserved Students

declining education outcomes for all students

• Last month, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that test scores for grade school students in Wisconsin have been declining since the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Less than half of Wisconsin students in grades three through eight were considered proficient in math and language arts in 2022.
  • This is a roughly 10% decrease from 2019 in the number of students considered proficient in these subjects.
• Since 2019 in Milwaukee, 38% less students are proficient in math and 24% less students are proficient in language arts.
  • Only 10% of Milwaukee students are considered proficient or higher in math, while just 14% are considered proficient or higher in language arts.

The Governor’s vetoes of parental rights legislation give parents less control of their children’s education.

Only about 39% of Wisconsin students scored proficient or higher in math on the spring 2022 Forward exams, while only about 37% were proficient or better in language arts.  The Forward Exam is intended to test how well students are doing compared to the Wisconsin Academic Standards.

wisconsin governor tony evers vetoes bills designed to help children and families  

• In April 2022, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers vetoed 28 bills passed by the Wisconsin legislature spanning a variety of topics with some focused on education.
• Several of these bills would have improved education for students across the state, especially those in underserved communities. These bills would have:
  • Prohibited the teaching of Critical Race Theory at the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Technical College System.
  • Established a Parents’ Bill of Rights, which would let parents determine which names and pronouns their children are addressed by in school.

minority children are harmed the most by governor evers’ vetoes

• The latest test results continue to show disparities in scores based on race, income, and other factors.
  • “In Milwaukee, just 7% of students considered economically disadvantaged tested as proficient in math and 10% in language arts… compared to 24% of their peers in math and 33% in language arts.”