Press Release: Gov. Evers Delivers Radio Address, Celebrates Vetoing Bill to Require Wisconsin to Opt Into Nationwide Expansion of Private Voucher Schools Under ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ Slams Republican Attacks on Public Education in America

State of Wisconsin sent this bulletin at 04/02/2026 09:30 AM CDT
Office of Governor Tony Evers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 2, 2026
Contact: GovPress@wisconsin.gov 
 
Gov. Evers Delivers Radio Address, Celebrates Vetoing Bill to Require Wisconsin to Opt Into Nationwide Expansion of Private Voucher Schools Under ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ Slams Republican Attacks on Public Education in America
 
Audio File of Radio Address.

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today delivered his weekly radio address, celebrating vetoing a bill earlier this week that would have required opting Wisconsin into a nationwide expansion of private voucher schools under President Donald Trump’s and Republicans’ ‘Big Beautiful Bill, which is expected to divert billions of dollars from public schools and public education.

Gov. Evers, who was a science teacher, principal, superintendent, and state superintendent before becoming governor, has repeatedly signaled his opposition to the nationwide expansion of private voucher schools and has previously indicated he would not sign onto Wisconsin joining the program. In his veto message, the governor noted his experience in education and being a “son of the state that created the nation’s first-ever private school voucher program.”

Veto Message for Assembly Bill 602.

A transcript of the governor’s radio address is available below.

Hey there, folks! Governor Tony Evers here.


Wisconsin was the first state in the nation to create a private school voucher program.

And as a former science teacher, principal, superintendent, and state superintendent, I’ve spent decades of my life watching the impacts that draining public funds from public schools to fund private voucher school programs has had on kids, schools, and public education in Wisconsin. Wisconsinites have, too.

With each passing school year, public school districts continue to endure capped and prorated state funding, strict revenue limits, and with the need to go to referendum just to keep up with inflation.

Folks, public funds should go to public schools. Period.

That’s why I was proud to veto a bill that would have required opting Wisconsin into a new nationwide federal voucher program created by President Trump and Republicans.

Republicans’ so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ created the first-ever federal effort to fund private school scholarships.  

Put another way, the federal government is now going to use public funds that should be used for public schools to essentially reimburse donors for helping fund private schools instead. No joke, folks!

This nationwide voucher program has no student achievement metrics, no school accountability measures, no minimum or maximum scholarship size, no certain end date, and no cap on how much the federal government can spend.

Republicans just gave the federal government a blank check to run a nationwide voucher program without regard for whether it actually does what’s best for kids.

Folks, that doesn’t cut it for me, and it won’t cut it for the more than 800,000 Wisconsin public school kids for whom the state has a constitutional obligation to invest in to provide the best education possible. So, I vetoed it.

I’ve always said what’s best for our kids is what’s best for our state, and as governor, I am going to keep working to do what’s best for our kids. Thank you. 
 
An online version of this release is available here.
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