On July 3, 2025, Governor Evers signed the 2025-2027 State Budget. Ultimately this budget doesn’t go nearly far enough to address the everyday struggles of Wisconsin families, especially families of color and those furthest from opportunity. But there were a few bright spots.
Bipartisan negotiations—a rare occurrence in today’s political climate—helped to shore up Wisconsin’s Medicaid budget for the near future and temporarily stabilize the child care industry. The Governor’s line item veto boldly caps the amount counties need to pay to place their kids in state facilities. This continues to push legislators toward closing Lincoln Hills/Copper Lake schools—Wisconsin’s largest youth prisons—which advocates and families have been calling for for years.
Below we compare the Governor’s originally proposed budget to the final version. Click on each tab below.
Few Wins for Early Care and Education
Child care remains unaffordable and unavailable for too many working families. Child care staff continue to be severely underpaid and this critical industry sits on the verge of collapse. While this year’s state budget delays this crisis somewhat, it certainly doesn’t solve it. Despite the Governor designating 2025 as the “Year of the Kid”, the budget resulted in a very mixed result for child care in our state.
The Governor’s most significant ask was $440 million in state funds for Child Care Counts (the successful program that supports our state’s child care workforce and increases available and affordable child care for Wisconsin families). This would have been a permanent line item in the budget. That didn’t happen. The final amount was one quarter of that, at $110 million. Called the “Child Care Bridge Payments Program,” it will only continue through the first year of the biennium, ending in June 2026. And no state revenue was allocated. All of the $110 million comes from interest earned from federal COVID response funds. The legislature choosing to allocate one-time funding that will be spent by the end of the first fiscal year may demonstrate a lack of commitment to long-term support for child care in Wisconsin.
What did we get instead?
| Item in Governor’s Proposed Budget | Included in the final budget? |
|---|---|
| Provide $440M in state funds for Child Care Counts. |  Only $110M from federal sources* |
| Raise Wisconsin Shares reimbursement rates—our child care subsidy program for low income working families—to the 75th percentile. Wisconsin has dropped to 48th out of 50 states because of our inadequate reimbursement rates. This will help reduce the burden of parent co-pays and make it more affordable and accessible. |  $123 million in federal funds |
| Launch the “Get Kids Ready” initiative, a public Pre-K program for 4-year-olds in child care (starting in 2026). It will make history as our first fully state-funded child care program. | $66 million in state funds |
| Fund a new employer grant program to offer on-site childcare and other family supporting services to employees. |  Not included |
| Increase toddler group sizes and ratios for Wisconsin Shares providers by offering $200 per infant per month and $100 per toddler per month on subsidy if the provider agrees to increase ratios. This change would theoretically add more openings for families with infants and toddlers. | $28.5 million in federal funds |
Increasing Teacher/Child Care Ratios Helps No One
Research shows that expecting teachers to care for more children increases teacher stress, burnout, turnover and negatively impacts child safety. This can also lead to higher insurance costs for providers, which paradoxically raises prices for parents. And increasing ratios also means reduced responsiveness from caregivers, greater safety and supervision risks, and worse developmental outcomes for children. The solution is investing in our youngest Wisconsinites, as quality early childhood education is essential to healthy development and leads to lifelong benefits.
*$110 million of federal funding was included for the “Child Care Bridge Payments Program”. This will only continue through the first year of the biennium, ending in June, 2026.
Next Steps
Find your state legislators here and ask them to fund the child care investments left out of the state budget when the legislature meets again in September.
Medicaid Funding Maintained, Yet Racial Disparities Remain & WI Fails Again to Expand Health Care Access
No matter where we live or what we look like, we all deserve to live safe and healthy lives. While the approved budget crucially fully funds Medicaid’s cost-to-continue for business as usual, it leaves out several important health care initiatives.
How does the Federal Reconciliation Bill impact Medicaid in the State Budget?
In future budgets, Wisconsin lawmakers will likely have to respond to the federal cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. These changes will require more paperwork for people who are on Medicaid, state employees, and county enrollment workers.
Medicaid (which includes BadgerCare) ensures that 1.2 million low-income children and parents, pregnant women, & seniors in nursing homes have health care in Wisconsin. SNAP (aka FoodShare) is the nation’s most effective anti-hunger program.
The result: people will lose their health care coverage due to increased barriers to accessing Medicaid.
President Trump signed into law the largest cut for Medicaid in its 60 year history. Medicaid funds account for more than one out of every four dollars that make up the state budget. 63,000 people could lose access to their health care through the new work reporting requirements.
Final State budget fully funds Wisconsin’s costs to continue existing Medicaid programs
The final budget includes more than $1 billion in support for Medicaid and fully funds Medicaid costs to continue the program as it’s currently run. The final budget has some modest rate increases for certain providers, such as obstetrics, medication-assisted treatment, and home health services. However, nearly all of the Governor’s Medicaid-funded health initiatives, such as extending postpartum care or fully expanding Medicaid were excluded from the final budget.
Addressing the Black Maternal Health Crisis
Black women are significantly more likely to die due to pregnancy-related causes than white women. Several measures included in the Governor’s proposed budget would have begun to address this crisis. Unfortunately, the final budget fails to prioritize maternal health or address racial disparities.
| Item in Governor’s Proposed Budget | Included in the final budget? |
|---|---|
| Extend postpartum coverage for 12 months for BadgerCare enrollees. | Not included. |
| Allow Medicaid to reimburse doula services. | Not included. |
| Increase grant funds that support maternal and child health. | Not included. |
| End the misguided “birth cost recovery” practice. | Not included. |
| Replace lead service lines and increasing access to treatment. | Not included. |
Yet again, legislators failed to expand BadgerCare
Governor Evers’ proposed budget would have expanded BadgerCare eligibility to 138% of the federal poverty level, about $21,600 a year for a single parent with one child. About 96,000 adults (nearly two thirds of which are parents) would have gained coverage, and the Department of Health Services (DHS) would have saved about $1.9 billion over the course of the two-year budget and more than $200 million a year thereafter. Due to the “Big Beautiful Bill Act” President Trump signed into law, Wisconsin’s financial incentive to expand Medicaid will sunset December 31, 2025. Wisconsin is still the only state that consistently spends more state dollars to insure fewer people.
Funding for community-based and safety-net providers
Numerous studies have demonstrated the positive impact that these services can have on people’s maternal health, mental health, and overall health outcomes – notably people of color, rural communities, and those more likely to be impacted by health disparities. Community Health Centers are critical providers of primary care, dental, behavioral health, and other services that keep families healthy. Free and charitable clinics also help provide care to people who are uninsured or underinsured.
| Item in Governor’s Proposed Budget | Included in the final budget? |
|---|---|
| Fully expand BadgerCare eligibility. | Not included. |
| Reimburse for community health workers. | Not included |
| Reimburse for peer specialists. | Not included |
| $10M increase for Community Health Centers. |  Increased funding by $1.6M |
| $500K increase for free and charitable clinics. |  Increased funding by $1.5M |
| Support rural health clinic funding. | Not included |
Choosing not to reduce Wisconsin residents’ out-of-pocket health-related costs or regulate private health insurance practices
| Included in the final budget? | Included in the final budget? |
|---|---|
| Limit sales tax on health-related necessities, like breastfeeding equipment, diapers, and OTC medications. | Partially included. The final budget exempts sales tax for electricity and natural gas, but does not exempt other everyday necessities like diapers or medications. |
| Prescription drug affordability review board, which would analyze other state and national drug pricing schemes and policies, and set price limits on drugs when necessary to limit predatory cost increases. | Not included |
| Capping insulin copays at $35/month for all insurance plans. | Not included |
| Ban surprise or balance billing in private health insurance. | Not included |
| Limit prior authorization requirements and other regulations. | Not included |
Next Steps
Find your state legislators here and ask them to prioritize health care when the legislature meets again in September.
Lack of Supports for Immigrant Children & Families
Governor Evers named the 2025-27 State Budget the ‘Year of the Kid’, however, the state budget failed to meet the needs of ALL kids in Wisconsin, especially immigrant children and their families. The Joint Finance Committee failed immigrant children and families by removing several pro-immigrant proposals from the state budget. As these families’ human rights are under attack at the national level, our state leaders have an opportunity to show leadership and stand firm. The final budget reflects a broader failure to invest in the critical resources and opportunities that immigrant families require to thrive. Each one of these proposals would have made it easier for Wisconsinites to provide for their families and continue to contribute to our state. Ensuring that every child, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to thrive should be a fundamental goal of any budget that claims to prioritize Wisconsin children and families.
| Item in Governor’s Proposed Budget | In the final budget? |
|---|---|
| Restore eligibility for driver licenses for every resident in Wisconsin, regardless of their immigration status. | Not included |
| Expand translation services for state agencies. | Not included |
| Expand professional licenses for immigrants in Wisconsin. | Not included |
| Allow students, regardless of immigration status, to pay in-state tuition. | Not included |
| Support English learner students in every school district across the state. | Not included |
Modest Support for Wisconsinites’ Wellbeing
Everyone in Wisconsin, regardless of their county, age, or profession deserves to live in a community that supports their wellbeing. This means access to quality, affordable mental health and substance use disorder services. In contrast to Governor Evers’ relatively robust budget for mental health, the final state budget included only modest support for a few specific items.
Baby Steps in School-based mental health care
Youth are experiencing a mental health crisis in Wisconsin. The latest Office of Children’s Mental Health Annual Report shows that more than half of high school students have significant problems with anxiety, more than in three report feeling sad or hopeless, and nearly one in five teens have seriously considered suicide. However, severe racial disparities exist.
These disparities are not surprising given the blend of significant stress Black and Brown families experienced during the early days of the pandemic and Wisconsin’s history of systemic racism.
While the Governor’s proposed budget included about $300 million in general purpose revenue (GRP) to support school-based mental health, the final budget included considerably less.
| Item in Governor’s Proposed Budget | Included in the final 2025-2027 budget? |
|---|---|
| Bolster mental health professional staff support in schools. ($130M) | Not included |
| Support comprehensive school-based mental health systems. ($170M) | One time funding increase of $30M for the first year of the budget |
| $50 million more in Medicaid reimbursement for school-based services. | Not included |
Significantly Less Funding Available to Reform Wisconsin’s Emergency Mental Health System
Wisconsin’s emergency mental health system relies heavily on law enforcement, hospital emergency departments, and jails, none of which were designed to meet the needs of people experiencing a mental health emergency. This has meant that people with mental illness are unjustly overrepresented in jails and prisons. Furthermore, systemic racism has meant that people of color in Wisconsin are even more likely to be unfairly incarcerated.
The governor’s budget proposed $20 million to fund two new regional crisis urgent care and observation centers. However, the final budget allocates half that funding, and will require approval by the Joint Committee on Finance before the Department of Health Services (DHS) can move forward.
Final budget continues to leaves counties responsible for much of Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Services
Medicaid—including BadgerCare which provides health insurance for children, parents, and adults with lower incomes—is the largest payer for mental health and addiction treatment services in the US, and plays an especially critical role in rural communities and small towns.
While the final budget included some modest Medicaid reimbursement rate increases, the Legislature refused to make the most significant change the Governor proposed. Counties will still need to pay the non-federal cost of Wisconsin’s Community Support Program, which offers community-based care and treatment for adults living with a severe mental illness diagnosis. This leaves counties still on the hook to pay the roughly $40 million over the biennium that could have gone to other community needs, such as housing or education.
| Item in Governor’s Proposed Budget | Included in the final 2025-2027 budget? |
|---|---|
| Fund two regional crisis urgent care and observation centers. ($20M to DHS) | $10M appropriated to Joint Finance Committee for crisis urgent care and observation facility grants |
| Support regional crisis stabilization facilities. ($8M) | Not included |
| Support children under 21 in psychiatric residential treatment facility. ($1.8M) | $1.8M appropriated to Joint Finance Committee for psychiatric residential treatment facilities |
| $12M for 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline | $7M for 988 Lifeline Support |
| Cover non-federal share of costs for Wisconsin’s Community Support Programs, which counties are currently funding. ($40M) | Not included |
Failing to invest in peer-delivered services
People with lived experience of mental health and substance use challenges are uniquely positioned to provide support to others who are navigating the behavioral health system. Many studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of peer support services in reducing hospitalization, increasing use of outpatient services, and improving quality of life. The Governor’s proposed budget would have made several important investments in peer-delivered and peer support services. However the final budget included none of these:
| Item in Governor’s Proposed Budget | Included in the final 2025-2027 budget? |
|---|---|
| Expand Medicaid funding of services provided by certified peer specialists. | Not included |
| Increase support for existing peer recovery centers that provide resources, skill training, and peer support to adults with mental health and substance use disorder challenges. | Not included |
| Provide support and connection for non emergency mental health and SUD needs via the statewide peer-run warmline. ($1M) | Not included |
| Support two peer-run respite services currently funded with federal funding that expired July 1, 2025. ($1.8M) | Not included |
Modest support for the mental health needs of farmers and farm families
While farmers experience higher levels of distress and depression than the general population, they are less likely to seek help and it’s hard to find when they do. More than 1.5 million Wisconsin residents live in our state’s 169 mental health care professional shortage areas. As of today, providers can only meet about 40 percent of the state’s needs.
The Governor’s proposed budget allocated $400,000 over the biennium and each year thereafter which would be a $100,000 increase for each year, to continue to provide and expand mental health assistance and providers available for farmers and farm families. The final budget however, included no increase in farmer mental health assistance and only a modest increase for health care provider training grants.
| Item in Governor’s Proposed Budget | Included in the final 2025-2027 budget? |
|---|---|
| Fund farmer mental health assistance. ($400K) | Included only the $200,000 allocated since the 2019-2021 budget and specifies that the funding is one-time only support. |
| Fund Health care provider training grants and repeal 100% funding match requirements. ($5M) | $1.3M increase for health care provider training grants, but retain match and other program restrictions |
| Fund mental health trainee program grants. ($3M) | Not included |
Next Steps
Find your state legislators here and ask them to invest in Wisconsin’s wellbeing when the legislature meets again in September.
Unlimited Tax Credits for the Wealthiest Few
Taxes are how we can ensure a solid foundation for every Wisconsinite. Unfortunately, the wealthy few have rigged the system and funneled investments out of our communities and into their pockets. The result is a regressive tax system in Wisconsin, where low-income families pay the highest effective tax rate.
While the Governor’s originally proposed budget included many opportunities to fix our lopsided system, the state’s Joint Finance Committee removed many of them.
| Item in Governor’s Proposed Budget | In the final budget? |
|---|---|
| Make household necessities more affordable by limiting sales taxes on essential items would have had a greater everyday impact on low- and middle-income families. | Partially included. The final budget exempts sales tax for electricity and natural gas, but does not exempt other everyday necessities like diapers or medications. |
| Expand the Homestead Tax Credit (and the Earned Income Tax Credit, below) to help keep families out of poverty. | While the Homestead Credit is still available (unlike other states), the final budget did not expand the tax credit to make it available to more struggling families. |
| Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and put up to $1000/year more in the pockets of hard working Wisconsinites (for qualifying families with 2 kids). | While the Earned Income Tax Credit is still available (unlike other states), the final budget did not expand the tax credit to make it available to more struggling families. |
| Add a new tax bracket for the wealthiest 0.03%. Wisconsin’s wealthiest pay a lower overall tax rate than the lowest income Wisconsinites. This overdue bracket would start to remedy that. | Not included. |
| Close Capital Gains Loopholes for the Wealthy Few | Not included. |
| Cap the Manufacturer’s Credit at $300K/Year. This overexploited credit allows the wealthy few to play by different rules. Other tax credits that benefit low-income families—like the Homestead and Earned Income Tax Credit—have a maximum limit. The Manufacturer’s Credit does not. | Not included. The final budget does not include a cap on how much the wealthy few can claim in a tax year. |
| Support seniors, low-income families, and veterans by expanding the Homestead tax credit, the Veterans Property Tax Credit, and creating a Veterans Property Tax Credit for Renters. | Not included. |
| No Tax on Tips. While it seems well-intentioned, it can make the tax system less fair for low wage earners who do not make tips and could create another way for the wealthy to lessen their tax liability by reclassifying some of their compensation as tips. | The ‘no tax on tips’ proposal was not included in the final state budget. Wisconsin workers will still have to pay state taxes on tips. Note: The federal ‘No Tax on Tips’ proposal did pass, so tipped workers will be able to deduct some tips when filing federal taxes. |
Next Steps
Find your state legislators here and ask them to ensure the wealthiest pay what they owe when the legislature meets again in September.
Individuals & Caregivers Working all Hours, No Action from the Legislature
Behind Wisconsin’s workforce are individuals and caregivers who work all hours to feed their families, strengthen our communities, and sustain the local economy. Despite broad public support for many of these issues, Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee removed all of these from the Budget. The 2025-27 Budget does almost nothing to ensure employers treat their workers fairly.
| Item in Governor’s Proposed Budget | In the final budget? |
|---|---|
| Establish mandatory penalties for employers who steal rightfully earned wages from their employees. | Not included |
| Strengthen the classification of workers, so they receive their owed benefits and protections. | Not included |
| While the Governor called for a task force to study raising the minimum wage, this isn’t enough. A living wage is overdue and essential for families and communities. | Neither a living wage nor the Governor’s proposed task force were included. |
| Protect unions and collective bargaining rights by restoring and expanding the right of state and local government employees to negotiate better wages and working conditions. | Not included |
| Allow working families, regardless of immigration status, to obtain a driver’s license. This is a crucial step toward ensuring that individuals can support their families, access employment opportunities, and contribute fully to society. | Not included |
Next Steps
- Find your state legislators here and ask them to pass the worker protections left out of the state budget when the legislature meets again in September.
- Learn more about building worker power in Wisconsin here.
A Surprising Bright Spot in the State Budget
Every young person in Wisconsin deserves the opportunity to get an education, grow up in safe communities, and realize their potential. However, Wisconsin relies far too much on incarceration while blaming children for system-wide problems. Three main ways the state could start to address this include:
- Evidence-based changes like diversion and mentoring that prioritize community investment and accountability without criminalization.
- Remove barriers such as fines and fees for justice-involved youth,
- Prioritize rehabilitation, not punishment.
Unfortunately, the state budget kicks the can down the road on several fronts. But, there are some promising outcomes.
Governor Evers Decreases the Amount that Counties Will Pay the State – Major Win for Counties Like Milwaukee
The “daily rate” for youth incarceration is the amount that counties pay per day to place their kids into state facilities. While the Department of Corrections originally requested a huge increase in this cost, the Governor line item vetoed the Legislature’s proposed cost increase, decreasing the amount that counties will pay the state to a max of just $758 per day. Rather than counties paying over $1,000,000 per year per child, the Governor slashed that cost to less than $275,000 per year per child with his line item veto.
This is a major win for counties like Milwaukee, who will see millions in savings.
This bold move supports the Governor’s long-term goal of closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake and relocating youth to smaller facilities. Governor Evers described in his veto message that the Legislature will now have to address this deficit via legislation since the state won’t be able to rely so heavily on funds from counties to run these facilities. Ideally, this would incentivize legislators to finally close Lincoln Hills/Copper Lake and invest funds into diversion initiatives, smaller facilities for our most vulnerable youth, and community-based programming.
| Item in Governor’s Proposed Budget | Included in the final budget? |
|---|---|
| Capping the daily rate for your youth incarceration at its current level, which is the amount that counties pay per day to place their kids into state facilities. | The Governor line item vetoed the Legislature’s proposed cost increase, decreasing the amount that counties will pay the state down to a max of just $758 per day. |
| Raise the Age at which youth are automatically treated as adults in the criminal legal system from 17 to 18. This would bring youth back to their rightful place in the youth justice system and Wisconsin would join 46 other states in treating children as children. ($10M) | Not included |
| Ensure justice-involved youth are eligible for guardian and kinship care, so that they can be cared for in familial environments. ($5.2M) | Not included |
| Additional investment in Youth Aids, and allow more flexibility in how counties can allocate the funds. ($8.4M) This would help counties to provide diversion, early intervention, and community-based care for justice-involved youth. | While the state still invests in youth aids, the funding remains similar to years past, which is not enough, and does not allow for the flexibility originally proposed. |
| A Juvenile Justice Review Committee would assess and implement a youth-development-informed approach to youth justice, convening practitioners to effectively facilitate reforms that are grounded in knowledge of adolescent development. | Not included. |
| Investing in smaller youth facilities to help prioritize rehabilitation and bring youth closer to their homes. The Governor originally proposed the following to help make this happen: – Expand the Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center (MJTC) to 93 beds, supporting more rehabilitative care for youth with severe mental health needs. ($23.2M) – Fund a Milwaukee Type 1 Facility. ($27.3M) – Establish a timeline for partial closure for Lincoln Hills/Copper Lake by October 2026 and maintain Act 185. | Funding included: $22M for the expansion of the MJTC, $21M for the new Milwaukee Type 1facility,$130M to build a new secure detention facility in Dane County, and a $1.5M planning grant for the construction of a new 16 bed Grow Academy, an agriculture science-based experiential education program, facility. With each step in the Governor’s plan contingent upon the success of the one before it, change to our patchwork youth justice system remains disjointed. The Governor’s ambitious timeline of October 2026 for the long overdue closures of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake depends on the construction timeline of the new Milwaukee facility, availability of space at the current Racine secure detention facility, construction of a new secure facility in Dane County, and staffing and admissions criteria of the expanded MJTC. |
| An Office of Violence Prevention ($12M) would allow the state to take a comprehensive approach to violence prevention by providing funding for local efforts, funding crime reduction initiatives, supporting safe spaces for youth through school-based mentoring programming, and more. | Not Included. |
Next Steps
- Find your state legislators here and ask them to pass the state youth justice investments and changes left out of the state budget when the legislature meets again in September – keep a close eye out for bill(s) related to the daily cost of youth incarceration.
- Learn more about the federal Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) which helps Wisconsin fund county youth rehabilitation initiatives.
- Organizations can:
- Join the Raise the Age Coalition by contacting [email protected].
- Help Kids Forward mobilize for statewide policy and systems change by joining Kids Forward’s statewide youth justice coalition. Contact Carte’cia Weaver ([email protected]) for more information.
