Public Schools Week 2025 concluded with a resounding bang last Friday.
Students, teachers, parents, board members, superintendents, and community supporters from all over the state gathered at the Capitol to celebrate local schools and share incredibly powerful stories exposing the gaps standing in the way of success for way too many of our kids, and the unsustainable cycle of “funding by referendum” that absolutely must end with the passage of the next state budget.
As our long line of speakers took turns sharing their concerns, organizers unfurled a heavy scroll from the second balcony of the Capitol Rotunda, which bore the names of every district that has gone to referendum in each election since 2023, when the last budget was passed. The list spilled over the balcony and all the way through the ground-level rotunda floor into the recesses of the building.
271 districts (some going to referendum more than once). 419 questions. That’s 2/3 of Wisconsin’s 421 districts in the last two years alone. Meanwhile, the legislature is circulating bills that will make it even more difficult to pass school referenda.Enough. There is much to celebrate in our public schools, and as one of our student speakers, Leela Bourenane, put it – it’s deeply frustrating that these critical things are being “discredited and overlooked.” Now is the time to take action so we can keep these celebrations going. Our kids deserve more than to survive another woefully inadequate budget. Our kids deserve to thrive.
Join us in our ongoing budget advocacy. Contact your lawmakers today. Sign the petition to close the education funding gap. Support our work however you can. But join us. Because our kids need you to stand up and say enough, too.
HUGE THANKS to all who spoke, attended, volunteered, and who continue to help amplify the message. See below for links to the full video and individual speaker clips, and some highlights from the news coverage of the event.
Let’s demand and deliver a better budget for 2025-2027!
Share these stories:
- Full video (our fb live feed)
- Wisconsin Eye coverage (requires free account)
- Heather DuBois Bourenane, executive director, Wisconsin Public Education Network State Superintendent
- Dr. Jill Underly
- Peggy Wirtz-Olsen, President, Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC)
- Ishaan Shukla, Sun Prairie West High School student
- Katherine Noack Sun Prairie West High School student
- Leela Bourenane, Sun Prairie West High School student
- Michael Jones, President, Madison Teachers, Inc.
- Jeff Presley, Adams-Friendship School Board
- Joni Anderson, Adams-Friendship School Board
- Tom Wermuth, Adams-Friendship Superintendent
- Jim Murphy, Mauston radio personality and YES team member + testimony of Ellie Ferguson, Mauston High School freshman
- Kendra Koeppen, Executive Director, Kenosha Education Association
- Corrine Hendrickson, Family Child Care Provider, WECAN, Corrine’s Little Explorers childcare advocate
- Alondra Garcia, Milwaukee Public Schools bilingual educator
- Chris Bauer, Yes to Tosa Kids referendum team Treasurer
- Rita Wiesneski, Treasurer (WI PTA) and President (Wauwatosa Council of PTAs)
- Kim Anderson, Wisconsin PTA Legislative Chair (Racine)
- Denae Walcisak, Prentice School District Strong Community- Strong School- Strong Future referendum team
- Tiffany Schanno, Sheboygan parent and disability rights advocate
- Laurie J. Burgos, Ph.D., Superintendent, Shorewood
- Kristina Sandherr, Executive Director, Wisconsin Progress State Representative
- Angelina Cruz
- Heather DuBois Bourenane, Wisconsin Public Education Network, Call to Action/Closing
AMPLIFY THE ACTION!
Photos and Media Coverage:
- Wisconsin Examiner: “Don’t Let Us Fade Away”
- Dairyland Patriot: School leaders express pride, frustration, concern at Capitol
- WKOW Rally held at Capitol to celebrate Public School Week MADISON (WKOW) –WSAW People gather to celebrate public schools with Day of Action at State Capitol
- WMTV 15 NEWS Public school advocates gather at State Capitol for Day of Action
- Special thanks to Joe Brusky of Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA) for sharing his fantastic photos from the event, and for putting together the video above to tell the story! See some of Joe’s incredible photos here – and please credit Joe Brusky/Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association if you use or share these.
- SOS Tosa Photos
Photo:
Joe Brusky / Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association
