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2025-2027 Wisconsin State Budget Summary

The state biennial budget, 2025 Wisconsin Act 15, which funds Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027 (FY26 & FY27), was signed by Governor Tony Evers on July 3, 2025 and includes total expenditures of over $111 billion.  Entering the budget process, the state had an over $4 billion surplus. After this biennium, Wisconsin’s surplus is projected to be about $770 million. 

This summary is limited to appropriations of greatest interest to the WCC and Catholic groups. It does not report on appropriations that remain unchanged from the previous biennium and, for the most part, does not consider further statutory changes that may have been enacted through other legislation. Provisions which the WCC supported, but which were not included in the final budget, are listed at the end of the summary. You can read the budget and non-budget issues the WCC is lobbying on this session in the WCC’s Session Priorities.

 

WOMEN, CHILDREN, AND FAMILIES

• Childcare

    • Allocates $110 million in direct payments to childcare providers. 
    • Allocates $123 million to raise reimbursement rates for Wisconsin Shares (the state childcare subsidy program for  working families with lower incomes). 
    • Provides $28.5 million for a pilot program to incentivize expanded capacity in child care industry with increased payments  
    • Provides an additional $66 million to a “Get Kids Ready” initiative to support child care providers serving 4-year-olds. 

• Adoption

Increases deductible amount of adoption expenses from $5,000 to $15,000. 

• Foster Care

Provides over $1.6 million to increase foster care and kinship care aid payments, helping foster care parents receive sufficient support for out-of-home care.

• Parenting Support

Provides over $3 million over the biennium for the online Positive Parenting Program. 

• Emergency Housing

Provides over $4 million in federal funding (TANF) in each fiscal year for needy families in case of fire, flood, natural disaster, energy crisis, homelessness, or impending homelessness.

 

EDUCATION

• Public Education Funding 

    • No increases for general school aid or per pupil aid for K-12 public schools, but increases the spending authority of local school districts by $1.4 billion for referenda to raise funds. 
    • Provides $504.6 million to increase the percentage of special education costs the state reimburses to school districts, from 30% to 45% over the biennium.
    • Provides another $54.6 million to support special education students with particularly high costs.
    • Allocates $30 million over the biennium for school-based mental health services.

• Choice & Independent Charter Funding

Increases per pupil payments for private choice schools and independent charter schools by $640 in FY26 and an additional $428 in FY27.

• Literacy Grants 

Provides $37.1 million in the biennium for school districts, independent charter schools, and private choice schools that adopt an updated literacy curriculum.

• School Safety

Provides over $1.5 million over the biennium for the Office of School Safety, which provides safety grants to public, private, and independent charter schools.

 

HEALTH CARE

• Medicaid Funding

Provides over $1 billion for Medicaid benefits based on the “cost-to-continue” (which assumes no changes to program eligibility or provider reimbursement rates, but does include projected increased service costs and caseload growth).

• Medicaid Reimbursement Rates

Includes over $53 million to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for personal care, obstetrics, private duty nursing, opioid treatment, chiropractic services, sedation dentistry, residential opioid treatment, and home health services.

• Elders and Persons with Disabilities

Increases funding to aging and disability resource centers (ADRCs) by over $3.7 million. 

• Other Safety Net Programs

Funds other safety net programs at ongoing costs including SeniorCare, Supplemental Security Income and Caretaker Supplements, Income Maintenance Consortia, Medicaid and FoodShare Administration, Funeral and Cemetery Aids, the Wisconsin Chronic Disease Program, and the FoodShare Employment and Training Program.     

• Free and Charitable Clinic Grants

 Increases funding by $1.5 million over the biennium for free and charitable clinic grants. 

• Farmer Mental Health

Provides $100,000 each year for mental health assistance and counseling services to farmers, who have disproportionately high rates of suicide and depression.  

• Mental Health

Provides $10 million in grants to support two regional crisis urgent care and observation facilities.      

• Suicide Prevention

Provides $7 million in the biennium for grants to support the state’s 988 suicide and crisis lifeline.

• Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities

Provides close to $2 million to support PRTFs that serve individuals under the age of 21. 

 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

• Community Reentry Centers

Allocates $2 million for the operation of community reentry centers for individuals re-establishing themselves after incarceration. Provides $1 million one time funding to the Windows to Work program that helps individuals secure employment after incarceration.

 

CARE FOR CREATION

• Food Grants

Provides $10 million for the Food Security Initiative to help connect local food pantries with local food producers to keep pantries stocked.  

• Clean Water and Environmental Improvement Programs

Increases bonding authority by $732 million for the clean water fund and safe drinking water loan program within the environmental improvement fund, including funds for local clean up programs.

OTHER

• Taxes

Expands the caps for the second tax bracket of 4.4% single filer from $29,370 to $50,480; married filing jointly from $39,150 to $67,300; and married filing separately from $19,580 to $33,650.

• Retirement Income Exclusion

Excludes the first $24,000 in retirement income for each filer 67 or older (up to $48,000 for a married couple). 

 

ITEMS NOT INCLUDED IN BUDGET

The following WCC-supported budget items were not included in the final budget:

  • Increase the dependent tax exemption and designate preborn children as dependents on income taxes.
  • Support a task force on missing and murdered African American women and girls. 
  • Increase the Earned Income Tax Credit, Homestead Tax Credit, and Married Persons Tax Credit.
  • Create a sales tax exemption for diapers, baby products, breastfeeding equipment, and feminine hygiene products.
  • Provide grant funding for diaper banks. 
  • Extend the postpartum eligibility for women in the Medicaid program to 12 months.
  • Fund pregnancy resource centers that provide ultrasounds and treatment for STIs. 
  • Expand home visiting services for newborns.