A handful of legislative Democrats supported the Wisconsin State Budget. In exchange, they got funding bumps to the UWs, public schools and child care, angering some on the left who wanted more.

By Annie Pulley, THE BADGER PROJECT

The largest funding increase for the Universities of Wisconsin in nearly 20 years. More than $360 million to support the state’s child care industry. And a $1.4 billion increase in revenue for public schools.

That’s what Senate Democrats in the state Legislature were able to trade for enough of their votes to help Republicans pass a state budget earlier this month.

“Wisconsin is a purple state,” Gov. Tony Evers said. “At the end of the day, it is my job as governor to get things done.”

On July 3, a day before President Donald Trump signed his “One Big Beautiful Bill” without a single Democratic vote in Congress, Evers signed Wisconsin’s $111 billion, 2-year budget with bipartisan support.

The governor, who will not run for reelection in 2026, signed the budget bill at about 1:30 a.m., soon after the Assembly approved it by a 59-39 margin.

Evers first announced his $119 billion budget proposal in February, but the GOP-controlled state Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, which writes the budget, slashed most of his proposals when they began their work in May.

But legislative Republicans struggled to pass a budget on their own, as they usually have since they took full control of Wisconsin state government in 2011. So they needed some Democratic support to put it over the top.

Wisconsin’s new, more competitive political districts, which followed a 2023 ruling by the state Supreme Court, led Democrats to win 10 more seats in the Assembly and four in the state Senate last November. Those tighter margins created a need for more compromise, experts say, and gave the minority party some bargaining power.

But not all Democrats were happy with the outcome this month.

“This budget is a false compromise dressed up as bipartisanship, but built on the backs of working families,” state Rep. Francesca Hong, a Democrat from Madison, wrote on X after its passage. “It lets Republicans off the hook while leaving our communities without the investment or care they deserve. We needed bold action; instead, we got a half-measure.”

But the reality of who controls both houses of the state Legislature, combined with a hard deadline, eliminated the ability to drag out negotiations, at least one expert said.

“Not sure that Democrats could have gotten much more given the Republican control of both chambers,” UW-Stevens Point professor emeritus Ed Miller wrote in an email. “They were under the gun to pass the bill before the national bill was passed. If they hadn’t, (Wisconsin) would have lost health payments” from the federal government.

The Wisconsin State Senate passed the budget in a 19-14 vote. 

Five of the 15 Senate Democrats voted for the budget there, including Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein of Middleton, as well as state Sens. Kristin Dassler-Alfheim of Appleton; Brad Pfaff of Onalaska; Jeff Smith of Brunswick; and Jamie Wall of Green Bay. Four Republicans and 10 Democrats voted against it. 

Though most Assembly Democrats, like Hong, voted no, a handful supported the budget, including state Reps. Jill Billings of La Crosse; Steve Doyle of Onalaska; Jodi Emerson of Eau Claire; Tara Johnson of the Town of Shelby; Maureen McCarville of DeForest; Sylvia Ortiz-Velez of Milwaukee; and Lori Palmeri of Oshkosh. 

Republicans have rarely needed Democratic support to pass a budget since they gained control of the state Legislature in 2010. As a result, there’s been little need to negotiate for Democratic votes. But a slimmer majority and a right-wing flank unwilling to budge required a new path.

Evers and the legislators who supported the budget held it up as an example of compromise. 

“When I was brought to the table in late June, Republicans were proposing $87 million in cuts to the UW, a mere 5% increase in reimbursement for special education, and no direct payments to childcare providers,” wrote Hesselbein in an email. “While not perfect and not the budget Democrats will craft when we are in the majority, (the budget) addresses the priorities Wisconsinites have clearly expressed: fund our public schools, make childcare more affordable, and invest in the UW System.”

The Universities of Wisconsin received $256 million in state funding, Hesselbein wrote. But they’ve been underfunded for years, and the $256 million they received falls short of the $800 million asked for, Miller wrote. They’re also losing a lot of federal funding and plan to increase tuition partly because most of the state funding will go to buildings rather than programs, he continued.

Of the more than $360 million earmarked for the state’s child care industry, a third will go to direct payments to providers. However, Wisconsin’s support for public schools has lagged and the cash from the states will largely benefit special education rather than students overall, Miller pointed out.

In 2023, the per pupil amount Wisconsin spent on public schools put the state at No. 26, according to a July 2025 report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum. In 2002, Wisconsin was No. 11.

“The focus of the budget was tax reductions,” Miller wrote.

Pfaff, who joined a handful of Senate Democrats in voting for the budget, praised its targeted tax cut that he says will primarily go to providing relief for those who earn less than $200,000. 

“I am disappointed with the lack of investment in our public schools,” Pfaff said in an email. “While we did make a significant increase in special education aid, the budget provided no new funding for school general aid. I’m concerned by this inaction — not only for our kids’ future but also for property taxpayers who have been backfilling the majority party’s disinvestment in schools through referendums for years.”

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dan Feyen, a Republican from Fond du Lac, touted the $1.4 billion in tax relief included in the budget. He emphasized the investment in special education and the cuts to more than 300 vacant positions in the state government. 

“With a divided state government as we currently have, it’s obvious that no one will get everything they want in the state budget,” Feyen said in a press release. “I voted ‘yes’ because it makes meaningful investments and reforms across key areas and delivers a sizable tax cut for the hardworking people of Wisconsin.”

Feyen noted that the budget indicates a clear need for a Republican governor. Democrats have said the end result should encourage voters to flip the state Legislature.

The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.