MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has been on a Wisconsin ballot for nearly two decades with five straight wins, including as state superintendent. But there will be no Evers on the ballot next year — he's not seeking reelection.
If there's a day Tony Evers looks forward to every year, it's the first day of school.
"It seems to get better every year. This is a great school and great kids." Evers said, during a visit to Milwaukee's Browning School.
Think about it. It's always been a part of his life as a student, school teacher, principal, state superintendent and now a two-term governor of Wisconsin.
When asked where he thinks he's had the greatest influence when it comes to education, Evers reflected on his varied roles.
"Oh, that's a great question. I'd say as far as day to day, being a principal was probably the place where I had the most impact on kids," Evers said.
But he's not downplaying his role as governor and the political battles over school spending.
When asked if he accomplished what he set out to do, Evers was candid about funding challenges.
"Money-wise, no. I know that school districts need more money to do the job," Evers said.
Evers did add $400 million in school funding increases with his partial veto powers and found success on other fronts.
Watch: 'I made the right decision': Gov Evers reflects on not seeking re-election
"We made some huge increases in special education funding. And that was not just for special education, because in the past because there was such a paucity of money for special education, so I think we did well, but it's a moving target every year we hope to do better," Evers said.
He says that includes Milwaukee Public Schools. He ordered an audit of MPS with results in June, highlighting a wide range of educational problems, and a state report card suggested half of MPS schools failed to meet academic expectations. The Department of Education ranked Milwaukee's reading scores among the worst in the country.
But Evers believes MPS's challenges are not disconnected from big city challenges in Milwaukee around healthcare, transportation and gun violence.
"You know, we can't say that we're going to fix gun violence by having better reading scores in Milwaukee. Do we want better reading scores? Yes. Do we want less violence? Yes. And so Milwaukee and other large cities, it's more than just the school district that is being impacted," Evers said.
Evers' election win in 2018 created a divided government with a Democrat in the governor's office and a Republican-led legislature.
When asked if he got tired of the politics, Evers acknowledged the challenges.
"Certain instances, but at the end of the day, I knew this going in. We are a purple state," Evers said.
Over the years, his job approval numbers were net positive in 31 out of 35 Marquette Law School polls. His highest numbers were during the start of the pandemic.
For the most part, Evers believes bipartisan work is effective.
"We had compromises this last budget. Did I want more money for early childhood? Yes, did I want more resources for K through 12? Yes, but when you have almost equal numbers, that's how it works, and you know, it's a good thing," Evers said.
But at age 73 and after a long public career, he says it's time to move on.
When asked if age played a factor in his decision, Evers was reflective.
"Oh, I suppose, but at the end of the day, 50 years is a long time to be working for the public, and it was just time for me to spend more time with my kids and grandkids and frankly my spouse, it is what it is and I made the right decision," Evers said.
Governor Evers sees his win on redrawing "fairer" legislative maps as a crowning achievement after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled the Republican drawn maps were unconstitutional. Evers believes the new maps gave Democrats a chance to win seats that reflected a more balanced legislature in a 50-50 political state.
This story was reported on-air by Charles Benson and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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