MADISON, Wis.— The 2023 State of the State address was a different experience for Greenfield Republican Rep. Bob Donovan, who, before winning his seat in the Wisconsin State Assembly in November, spent his political life in local government. 

“This is nothing like the city of Milwaukee, a State of the City address," Donovan said. "I was impressed certainly, this is new to me. I think the governor did a good job of laying out his perspective of issues that he cares about.”

In his speech, Gov. Tony Evers outlined what he’d like lawmakers to do this legislative session. 

Evers said he wants to put millions of state dollars into programs to bolster public education and mental health resources in schools and communities. 

He said he wants to put more funds towards child care. 

He also said he wants to put more toward public safety — something Donovan said he wanted to hear more about. 

“I was a little disappointed that we didn’t hear more on public safety and its impact on the state, certainly on southeastern Wisconsin," Donovan said. 

Republicans and Democrats both want to see the state address it’s shared revenue for communities, and get money back into local control.  

Gov. Evers proposed putting 20% of the state’s sales tax back into communities. 

Rep. Ryan Clancy, a Milwaukee Democrat, supports the proposal. 

“Absolutely. I mean, the short of it is there are 24 new folks in the Assembly. The vast majority of us have that local government experience," Clancy said. "We know what it’s like to be in local government when we don’t have sufficient resources to govern. I’m really optimistic about this.”

As a former teacher, Clancy said he was glad the governor put so much emphasis on bolstering public education — specifically helping schools to hire and keep teachers — and keep class sizes small. 

“Public education has been starved for years," Clancy said. "My last year of teaching, I had 40 students in some of my classes, and I was just not a good teacher to 40 students. Education really is the key to so much else we want to get done, and I’m very grateful it’s going to be in the governor’s budge

Evers said his proposals are not to make government bigger, but to make it better. 

Assembly Speaker, Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester),, disagreed, and said a lot of Evers' proposals will be dead on arrival. 

“I would say this is typical Tony Evers," Vos said. "Very liberal, a little bit more than he knows Republicans will ever accept, and once again only talking to one side of the room. He really didn’t spend much time talking to the whole room.”

Evers will speak to that room again in just three weeks when he gives more specifics on his budget proposals.