Felzkowski education bill vetoed

An education bill authored by Sen. Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) and Rep. Jessie Rodriguez (R-Oak Creek) was vetoed last month by Gov. Tony Evers.

Analysis provided by the Legislative Reference Bureau indicates that the bill would have allowed Wisconsin to utilize tax credits for individuals who make charitable contributions to eligible scholarship-granting organizations under the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025.

“Under federal law, participation in this tax credit program is optional for states. The tax credit applies to a state only if the governor of the state or another individual, agency, or entity designated under state law to make such election with respect to federal tax benefits voluntarily elects to participate in the program,” the analysis states.

Felzkowski said the bill would have expanded educational opportunities for Wisconsin students without using any taxpayer funds or adding a single new bureaucrat.

“These (scholarship-granting) organizations provide scholarships directly to eligible families to support students with a variety of expenses including tutoring, transportation, curriculum, special needs therapies, academic extracurriculars, and more,” Felzkowski said.

“Students in all types of schools, from public and private to charter and homeschool, are eligible for scholarships. For Wisconsinites who donate to Wisconsin scholarship-granting organizations to take advantage of the tax credit, the state needed to opt in. Following the governor’s veto, only donations to scholarship-granting organizations in states that have opted in are eligible for the credit, meaning these dollars will now flow out of state.”

Evers said his opposition of the bill boiled down to his objection to the nationwide expansion of a private voucher school program.

According to Evers, the Big Beautiful Bill has created the first major federal program to effectively redirect public funds to private school tuition through tax incentives.

“It is the first-ever federal effort to fund private school scholarships through vouchers the federal government will pay individuals in exchange for donating to organizations that award scholarships to attend private schools,” he said. “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.”

Evers went on to say that the 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 in Washington have given private voucher expansion carte blanche to run roughshod over public education in this country — and a blank check to do so at taxpayer expense, clearly without any regard for whether it actually does what is best for kids.”

According to Evers, estimates indicate this private voucher program will cost American taxpayers billions of dollars, with some projecting costs as high as $51 billion a year and possibly even higher.

“Public funds should go to public schools. Period,” Evers said. “Proponents of this nationwide voucher expansion have implored me to support and opt into this program, insisting the program will benefit public school students, families, and schools, too. Perhaps I am wrong and maybe it will.”

Felzkowski called Evers’ veto of the bill “another example of our ‘education governor’ putting politics over helping Wisconsin students.”

“Apparently, expanded educational opportunities for students in all schools, whether public, private, homeschool, or charter, (at no cost to the state and without the need for a single new bureaucrat!) makes too much sense for the governor. Wisconsin students and families deserve better,” she said.