Governor Tony Evers called on the Wisconsin Legislature to consider the children while outlining his priorities during his 2025 State of the State.

The Democratic governor spoke to the Republican-held legislature and a full gallery for nearly an hour on Wednesday weeks before introducing his biennial budget. He tied many of his ideas to improving the outcomes of the state's youth, such as increasing public investment in K-12 schools, universities, and technical colleges, introducing universal free breakfast and lunch, expanding in-school mental health services, and addressing lead in water wells. "The obligation to help address the challenges our kids are facing in the 80 percent of the time they are not in school falls squarely at the feet of elected officials in this building," Evers said. "So, tonight, I'm declaring 2025 the Year of the Kid in Wisconsin because I want everyone here to start taking that important responsibility seriously." Evers called the Legislature to use the $50 million already approved on a bipartisan basis to get to work immediately.

Rep. Joel Kitchens says while he likes Evers' ideas in a broad sense, how they would be paid for is a different story.

Kitchens hopes that making retirement funds tax-free and funding K-12 schools to offset special education costs are included in the final budget. Evers' speech also addressed gun control, suicide prevention, affordable childcare and health care, and immigration. You can watch the full speech and the Republican response below. 

Screenshot picture courtesy of PBS Wisconsin