Evers Vetoes Bill to Join Federal Tax Credits for Voucher Scholarships
'Runs roughshod over public education,' governor says. MMAC disagrees.
Gov. Tony Evers delivers the State of the State address Tuesday Feb. 17, 2026, at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Gov. Tony Evers vetoed legislation Monday that would have required Wisconsin to opt into a new federal program promoting donations to school scholarships, with Evers saying the program is an expansion of school vouchers.
The program, the Educational Choice for Children Act, was included in the reconciliation bill passed by Congress last summer known as the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
It isn’t a direct voucher. Instead, it will operate as a federal tax credit allowing people to receive up to a $1,700 credit for donating to nonprofit scholarship-granting organizations. These groups can then distribute the money.
One of the requirements is that governors must opt in. Evers said months ago he would not.
Republican lawmakers passed a bill requiring him to do so.
In his veto message Monday, Evers said he could not support a program that has no oversight for student achievement.
“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,” Evers wrote. “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.”
Evers wrote that decades after Wisconsin implemented the voucher school system in the state, Wisconsin residents are uniquely situated to understand what is at stake.
“With each passing school year, public school districts continue to endure capped and prorated state funding, strict revenue limits, and the need to go to referenda in many cases just to keep up with inflationary pressures to provide a quality education for their kids,” Evers wrote.
This month more than 70 public school districts will ask voters to approve referenda and nearly every Wisconsin county has seen a decline this year in public school enrollment, according to figures by the Department of Public Instruction.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin has a robust voucher program.
This year, 96,561 students are participating in the voucher program costing $700.7 million in taxpayer dollars, according to DPI.
According to Evers, the federal program will cost American taxpayers as much as $51 billion dollars per year.
But Dale Kooyenga, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, or MMAC, said the federal program is happening and if Wisconsin doesn’t join, the money will be sent to other states.
“So let’s not leave money on the table,” Kooyenga said. “If we do not do this, the money is going to go to the U.S. Treasury, or it will go to other states’ students.”
Last fall, MMAC launched a project called “Pay it Forward Wisconsin,” to accept pledges for the federal program.
On Monday, Kooyenga said that the program won’t work if the governor doesn’t sign onto the nationwide voucher.
In November Wisconsin will elect a new governor who can decide if he or she wants to opt in. MMAC has been hosting meetings with the candidates and Kooyenga says most of them are supportive of joining the national program.
Cory Brewer, an attorney with the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, who specializes in education, said Evers’ veto message is deceptive because the federal program benefits students in private and public schools.
“The funds can be used for tutoring, curriculum, transportation, technology, special needs therapies and more,” Brewer said. “We’re hoping that even if Wisconsin doesn’t opt in immediately to this program, that the state opts in in the future.”
Editor’s note: This story has been changed to clarify that this is not a direct voucher program.
Evers vetoes bill to join federal tax credit program, citing concerns over expansion of school vouchers was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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