WI Governor Tony Evers Visits School In Hayward While Promoting Education Funding

March 13, 2023

Alexandra Burnley,

HAYWARD, Wis. — Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers visited the Hayward Intermediate School to promote his budget proposal and funding for schools on Monday.

One major theme of Evers’ proposed funding is taking care of school districts needs before they need to turn to the community and ask them to raise property taxes on themselves to fund aging buildings, staffing shortages, and more.

“Our schools need more money, you know obviously I just mentioned mental and behavioral health, but at the end of the day, we can’t expect 420-plus school districts to continue and continue going to referendum after referendum because sooner or later people say, ‘No more money from us,’ and then suddenly have inequities all across the state of Wisconsin, we just can’t afford that,” Gov. Evers said.

Last April, voters approved a bond referendum for the Hayward Community School District to borrow $50 million to upgrade and renovate multiple school buildings.

“We’re the hub of our community, and we really value our culture and climate that we create here to provide the best opportunities for all of our students, and making sure the parents have the ability to be, have parent involvement, with complete transparency,” Craig Olson, the superintendent of the Hayward Community School District, said. “I think the things we’re doing with the help of this referendum with our ‘What’s Your Plan’ and academic and career planning is to ensure every student is college and career ready, that’s a big benefit. And obviously at the foundation of everything is assuring that students are safe and healthy every day going to school.”

Governor Evers’ proposal would spread out $2.6 billion to K-12 schools.

It would be the largest boost in funding in Wisconsin history if approved by the state legislature.

Evers wants the funding to improve literacy, offer more mental health support to students, make sure every student has a meal at school, and hire more teachers to keep class sizes smaller.