Governor Evers released a new campaign ad, which states that he has worked with both parties to invest in schools, cut income taxes, and put the state on solid financial footing. Unfortunately, with Gov. Tony Evers, it’s hard to know if he is being transparent and honest. 

View his new ad here: The Right Thing – YouTube.

Evers states, “I won’t cut public school funding. I won’t stop trying to find good ideas from both parties, and I’ll never allow radical politicians to make decisions about abortion. That should be left to women and their doctors.”

Since 2019, Evers has served as the Governor of Wisconsin. Four years is a substantial amount of time to make a difference, and it’s also an excellent opportunity to show the residents of WI what truly matters to you. So let’s reflect on the past four years under the Evers Administration. 

The Evers Administration on Public Schools 

The first thing we will want to examine is public schools. We know that Tony Evers has been relentlessly throwing money at public schools hoping proficiency will miraculously improve. However, it hasn’t gone as planned. Instead, public schools have progressively gotten worse under his administration, regardless of the consistent funding he has provided them.  

Just nine weeks before the election, where Wisconsin voters will decide between Evers and Michels as their next Governor, Evers released a plan that called for spending about $2 billion more on public K-12 schools. 

He commented about his pricey project saying, “We have to do this if we finally want to make a difference for kids.” He added, “We have to do this… This is an opportunity of a lifetime.”

As the former state Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction, Governor Evers has made K-12 education a top priority in his 2019-2021 budget proposal. However, only if students are attending the types of schools he prefers. 

DPI saw the most significant increase in state aid compared to any other agency listed in Evers’ budget proposal, involving around $15.5 billion for DPI’s programs and operations.

The Governor has thrown massive amounts of money at public schools while tightly restricting school choice, and we don’t have much to show for it academically.

Despite spending billions of dollars on public schools, proficiency in core subjects like mathematics and reading has been dropping since 2019.

AKA, when Evers became Governor.

In 2019, The National Assessment of Education Progress reported that 64% of Wisconsin students were not proficient in reading, and 34% of Wisconsin students did not meet the basic reading level. 

Proficiency scores released from the DPI showed us that students were failing under the Evers’ administration, with less than one-third of them proficient in ELA or math. Yet, Evers still chose to veto a bill that would have helped improve literacy in the state. 

Governor Evers said in his veto message, “I object to fundamentally overhauling Wisconsin literacy instruction and interview without evidence that more statewide, mandatory testing is the best approach for our students, and without providing the funding needed for implementation.”

The bill was designed to help identify younger students who may be struggling by requiring additional literacy tests for kindergarten students. The bill also required test results to be disclosed to parents. 

Fast forward to 2022, and The National Assessment of Education Progress reports that these numbers have worsened. 

The report shows that 67% of students are not proficient in reading, while 37% of Wisconsin students do not meet the basic reading level. In addition, more than half of students still need help to become proficient in mathematics, and 21% do not meet the basic math level. These numbers have also dropped since 2019.

While Evers is opposed to improving literacy in public schools, he supports teaching CRT in public schools. He vetoed a bill that would have banned teaching divisive CRT curriculum to students in Wisconsin. 

Governor Evers also opposes giving families and students options. He vetoed legislation that would have overhauled education in Wisconsin, making all children eligible to receive taxpayer-funded private school vouchers regardless of household income.

Tony Evers also believes parents involving themselves in their children’s education is radical, vetoing a proposal to establish a “Parental Bill of Rights.” The Governor wrote in his veto message that “parents are the first and best teachers our kids have,” although the parental bill of rights is aimed to “divide our schools.” 

According to Evers, allowing parents to opt out of specific topics or curricula they find inappropriate or unnecessary is divisive. However, teaching critical race theory or trans ideology to preschoolers is not divisive at all. 

Wisconsin families deserve to find the school that best suits their needs, and parents deserve to know what is being taught in schools. That’s the bottom line.

“Working” With the Republican Party

Governor Evers’ veto pen has been quite busy. Since January 2022, Evers has vetoed over 126 GOP-backed bills. He also plans to continue rejecting more Republican bills if he remains Governor of Wisconsin. The amount of GOP-backed bills that Evers quickly shot down is a great reminder of how unwilling he is to work with the Republican Party, regardless of what he claims in his campaign ads. 

One of the vetoed measures involved prohibiting government agencies from requiring employees to attend training courses about topics related to systemic racism.

Another vetoed bill would have allowed students to sue University of Wisconsin professors and others who interfere with the rights of free speech on campus. 

Another bill Evers vetoed would have prohibited schools from requiring students to wear masks and required employers to accept proof of natural immunity from COVID-19 rather than vaccination. 

He also rejected a load of bills that would have helped direct how to spend millions awarded as part of Wisconsin’s coronavirus relief package. Evers currently has the discretion to decide how it’s spent and wants to keep it that way. 

These are just a handful of the plethora of GOP bills rejected by Evers. When he does decide to sign a Republican bill, AKA finding “good ideas” from both parties, he’ll jump to take credit for its benefits to Wisconsinites.

Despite Evers’ plan to raise taxes by $1.3 billion and spend another $2 billion, he shamelessly took credit for one of the most significant tax cuts in Wisconsin history; a budget proposed by Republicans. He signed the state’s new $87.5 billion two-year state budget. He immediately took the spotlight and told taxpayers he was the one who gave them billions in tax cuts. 

Evers commented, “I made a promise when I ran for governor. I promised I would cut taxes for middle-class families by 10%. Today, I am keeping my word. I am providing more than $2 billion in tax relief and cutting taxes for middle-class families at a time when our economy and families need it most.”

Let’s not forget Evers vetoed a bill that would have repealed the personal property tax for businesses. After all, he was the one who said Wisconsin didn’t need to lockdown, but then he did it anyways. His excessive lockdown order forced countless businesses to close their doors. Many of them couldn’t recover. 

Do What’s Right, Not What’s White

When Tony Evers was the Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction from 2009-2019, they collaborated with Volunteers in Service to America, or VISTA. Evers spoke very highly of the VISTA organization, remarking that Wisconsin was “very fortunate” to have assistance from their volunteers and that their work was “very important.”

At a joint DPI-VISTA training session in 2013, they distributed a document titled “Addressing Racial Privilege: A Mental Model for White Anti-Racists.” This occurred when Evers was the Superintendent of the DPI. This controversial document encouraged people to engage in various anti-white racial shaming exercises, which included wearing a white wristband as a “reminder about your privilege, and as a personal commitment to explain why you wear the wristband.”

The document they handed out also called for white people to “find a person of color who is willing to hold you accountable for addressing privilege” and to “make a daily list of the ways privilege played out, and steps taken or not taken to address privilege.”

This anti-white guidebook also urged Caucasians to “set aside sections of the day to critically examine how privilege is working.” Another section demands that attendees “be willing to teach others and hold them accountable.”

A reflection section included more racial-charged questions to ask yourself, such as, “what am I doing today to undo my privilege?” or “how do I live with my privilege?”

Having the position of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Evers had control over the curriculum going out in Wisconsin public schools. Once information about this hateful document was leaked, the state DPI quickly removed it from its website. A section on their site called “Power and Privilege” denies that DPI officials had asked students or school personnel to wear wristbands to make a spectacle of their “white privilege.”

While this may have happened while Superintendent of Public Instruction and not as Governor, we know Evers favors teaching CRT in schools. 

We also know that the Department of Public Instruction (which he has also been throwing money at) was recently called out for pushing trans ideology and hyper-sexualized curriculum to preschoolers and other young students. 

Evers also forced parents out of the classrooms by vetoing the bill that would have established the Parental Bill of Rights. His views during his time as Superintendent are not much different today. 

Politicians Involved in Abortions

Despite Evers stating he won’t let politicians make decisions about your abortions, he is one of the politicians making decisions about your abortions. Ironic.

Yes, we all know Tony Evers is radically pro-choice. Although, he’s still taking away a particular set of rights while he promotes this idea.

A few pro-life bills he has banned:

• Senate Bill 592 would require doctors to share educational resources and materials to support parents who have found out their baby tested positive for a congenital disorder. It would require doctors who administer cognitive tests to give expectant parents “current, evidence-based information about the congenital condition.” (Evers doesn’t want women to know evidence-based information about congenital conditions.)
• Senate Bill 593 would prohibit abortions based on the unborn child’s race, color, national origin, ancestry, or sex or solely because the child has been diagnosed (or potential diagnosis) with down syndrome or another congenital disability.
• Another, called the “Born Alive” bill, would have required doctors to care for babies that survived induced abortions. (Evers is opposed to providing care to a human being even though he/she was born after a botched abortion.)
• Another would require doctors to inform women that chemically-induced abortions may not work immediately. (Doesn’t want women to go into an abortion educated and equipped with the knowledge about what may or may not happen.)
• Governor Evers also vetoed the Women’s Right to Know Act, Senate Bill 591, which would require abortionists to inform women of the abortion pill reversal procedure. A procedure that can change the outcome if a woman changes her mind and has already saved over 2,500 babies. (Evers believes informing a woman that she can change her mind is “unethical.” He doesn’t want women to know they have this option.)
• Another bill would have allowed the child’s father to sue over an abortion he did not consent to. (Women are the only ones allowed to make this decision, even if the baby’s father disagrees or desperately wants to keep his child from being aborted.) 

Aren’t these all essential things women should know when considering an abortion? Governor Evers doesn’t think so. He will gladly say he is protecting women’s right to choose while vetoing a bill called “Women’s Right to Know.”

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again today. As long as I am governor, I will veto any legislation that turns back the clock on reproductive rights in this state, and that’s a promise.” Evers tweeted after vetoing countless pro-life bills. 

However, some of the bills he vetoed aren’t necessarily “turning back the clock.” Caring for babies that became victims of failed abortions is humane. Aborting a baby because of race, color, or sex is not, nor has it ever been, healthcare. Informing women that congenital disorders are challenging but manageable if they have the proper knowledge and resources is the right thing to do. The same goes for informing women that they have the chance to change their minds after taking the first dose to induce a chemical abortion. 

Putting all of their options on the table so they can make an informed decision is hardly unethical, and it certainly does not turn back the clock. We’ve come a long way, and women 100% deserve to know the choices, resources, and information they could have access to. 

Doing “The Right Thing” is Subjective

Governor Evers’ idea of doing the right thing is entirely subjective. We’ve witnessed repeatedly that Tony Evers will only do what he thinks is right. 

He chooses to keep public school students in his box so they are stuck in the schools he wants them in with no other options. He allows controversial social topics to be taught as “curriculum” in these same schools that he has kept his thumb on. His opposition to school choice is hurting families and keeping students from succeeding. His classic “money solves everything” outlook on education is not working. Yet, he is still prioritizing funding public schools instead of finding more innovative, hands-on solutions that make a noticeable impact.  

The Governor has failed to show any common ground with the Republican Party unless he wants to steal the credit for something they proposed. This politician also refuses to inform women of all of their rights and options when considering abortion; Evers only wants women to know the information he wants them to know. 

We see a pattern here. Whatever Evers wants is ultimately “right” for Wisconsin. The past four years have not gone well, and WI voters cannot ignore that.