Twice, Wisconsin Republicans stopped Governor Evers from raising taxes by more than $1 billion and dismantling reforms that helped turn our state around. Even worse, he tried to hike your taxes during a pandemic! Under Republican leadership, we have continually cut your taxes and delivered responsible budgets that invest in our future and protect taxpayers. The results are dramatic.

This week, the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau announced that Wisconsin has an estimated surplus of $3.8 billion! That's the highest estimate ever. Our reforms and careful budgeting over the past decade have helped to deliver this surplus. Since part of the surplus is from one-time federal funds, it would be irresponsible to use that money for ongoing expenses. It's my hope we will deliver as much of the surplus as possible back to you.

As always, if you have any concerns or ideas on how to improve our great state, please do not hesitate to contact me by phone at 608-266-5830 or by email at Sen.Darling@legis.wisconsin.gov.

We have a reading crisis in our state. Too many kids are falling behind. If kids don't learn how to read by the end of third grade, they are likely to fall behind in all of their other subjects and struggle with reading for the rest of their lives.

More children in Wisconsin could get the help they need before they enter kindergarten thanks to a bill I authored. On Tuesday, the Wisconsin State Senate approved an expansion to a nationally recognized program designed to help children learn to read.

Last session, I authored a law to allow innovative programs like Waterford Upstart to operate in Wisconsin. This will help us close the achievement gap and provide a solid base for children to show up ready to learn when they reach kindergarten. Waterford Upstart helps low-income, four-year-old children prepare for school at home for free. More than 83% of students in the Waterford Upstart program are demonstrating strong readiness for kindergarten.

This program works. The expansion will mean more kids can get a head start on reading. Learning to read earlier will build confidence and create lifetime learners. That will help close the achievement gap.

Senate Bill 828 now heads to the State Assembly for further consideration.

Recently, former Governor Tommy Thompson announced he would retire as President of UW-System. Tommy stepped up to lead our university system at a challenging time.

I'm proud to have worked with Tommy on important reforms like creating school choice, reforming welfare, and education funding. I am also proud to have authored a resolution honoring Tommy Thompson for his time at UW-System. On Tuesday, the State Senate unanimously approved the resolution.

I wish Tommy all the best as he steps away from UW-System.

On Tuesday, the State Senate honored two National Champion volleyball teams.

Both the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Eau Claire women’s volleyball teams won national titles this season.

Congratulations to both teams. It's an exciting time to be a volleyball fan in Wisconsin!

Thursday is Holocaust Remembrance Day. It's important that we never forget the lessons of the Holocaust. That's why I authored a new law to make sure students will learn about the Holocaust and other genocides in Wisconsin’s schools. The law requires Holocaust education at least once during middle school and once during high school. 

Two-thirds of American millennials surveyed could not identify Auschwitz. Twenty-two percent of millennials in the poll said they haven’t heard of the Holocaust or are not sure whether they’ve heard of it — twice the percentage of U.S. adults who said the same. 

The Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center (HERC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin will provide the materials, programming, and professional development necessary to implement this requirement at no additional costs to schools. Over the past few months, HERC has built a comprehensive website that includes over 140 lesson plans (with even more in development) for schools to use free of charge.

I'm proud to be one of the original authors of our state's landmark school choice legislation. I've seen first-hand how school choice has improved the lives of children.

It's exciting to see children have the opportunity to succeed in school no matter where they live.

As a former teacher, I am extremely concerned about the significant drop in reading and English scores.

As I told the MacIver Institute, our state is facing an educational crisis. We have a reading and learning crisis and the only solution coming from Governor Evers and DPI is to study it more. I’m sick of studies. The shelves at DPI are stacked with studies. It’s time for action.

Sadly, every bold initiative we have proposed over the last couple of years has been met with strong opposition to protect the status quo. Our kids deserve better and I’m not giving up on them.

The Department of Public Instruction's 2020-21 School Report Cards show the need for reforming education.

Many Wisconsin school districts slipped in the 2020-21 school year compared to 2018-19, according to report card data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The department changed the methodology for report cards this year, allowing schools to meet expectations with lower scores.

Click on the picture to see how your school district is performing.

Thank you to all who have requested a 2021-2022 Wisconsin Blue Book. We have fulfilled all requests we received before this week and are in the process of processing a few remaining requests.

If you have not yet requested a Blue Book but would live to receive one, please click the picture and we will mail you one at no cost.

If you requested a Blue Book more than two weeks ago and it has not yet arrived, please reach out via email at Sen.Darling@legis.wisconsin.gov and provide your name and shipping address. More recent requests should arrive in the coming days.

Thank you for your patience.