$50 Million for Reading Instruction Will Return to State Surplus

Children reading in Jacksonville, Florida with Teach for America. Business Wire

In 2023, when Gov. Tony Evers signed into law a sweeping legislative overhaul to how Wisconsin children learn to read, $50 million was allocated to fund the mandated changes.

But the $50 million has never been released, and Republicans and Democrats have spent the last year pointing fingers at each other over who is to blame.

In 2024, the Legislature sued Evers over changes he made to the bill through a partial veto. The money is tied up as the Legislature awaits oral arguments and a decision by the state Supreme Court over whether the governor had the authority to strike funding for school boards and charter school compliance from the law.

And because that ruling won’t come by the end of the fiscal year, the funds will go back into the state’s massive surplus, state Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, confirmed to WPR.

Kitchens, who co-authored the reading law known as Act 20, had hoped to introduce a bill that would release the money for reading before June 30.

“While our lawyers said that the bill would not compromise the lawsuit that is pending, there are others who are concerned that it would,” Kitchens said. “For that reason, it does not look like a bill will be introduced. With the timeline that the Supreme Court has put out for hearing the case, there are serious concerns that they will not rule before the funding lapses.”

Act 20 was a bipartisan bill, proposed by Republicans who worked with the state Department of Public Instruction on the details.

When it passed, the Legislature created a separate, nearly $50 million appropriations bill for implementation.

Then, disagreements began over how that money would be used and who would decide how to use it.

Wisconsin allows its governors to use partial vetoes on appropriations bills. Evers’ use of that power in February 2024 prompted a lawsuit in April from legislative Republicans asking the $50 million be withheld from DPI.

Evers and DPI filed a counterclaim saying without the money, implementing the new law in time for the 2024-25 school year would be impossible.

In July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that the GOP overstepped its constitutional authority by blocking Evers’ actions related to the state Department of Natural Resources. But the court did not rule on the $50 million for DPI.

Attorney General Josh Kaul has asked the high court to bypass the appellate court and rule on the matter. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Act 20 case but has not yet scheduled oral arguments.

State Superintendent Jill Underly said school districts committed to transforming how students learn to read with the understanding that the state Legislature would contribute $50 million to support those efforts.

“This delay is an outright betrayal of our students and a failure of leadership,” Underly said. “Legislative leaders have let down both our children and our schools. I don’t want to hear another elected official complaining about literacy outcomes — they have no one to blame but themselves.”

During a recent Assembly committee hearing, Kitchens addressed Act 20 funding.

“We negotiated this deal for months and months, and then he [Evers] went back on his word, saying that DPI should get the money and spend it how they want without any oversight,” Kitchens said. “It’s very unfortunate that the funding for Act 20 has not been released, but it certainly is not our fault.”

Listen to the WPR report

Amid political gridlock, $50M for reading legislation will return to Wisconsin’s surplus was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.