Vice President Mike Pence to visit Wisconsin state Capitol on Tuesday

Vice President Mike Pence will visit the Wisconsin State Capitol next week to promote private school vouchers and other alternatives to traditional public schools. 

Pence will deliver a speech during a noon rally Jan. 28 in the Capitol rotunda recognizing National School Choice Week, an event organized by conservative groups and school choice advocates that is expected to draw as many as 800 people. 

Wisconsin is home to the nation's first school voucher program, begun in Milwaukee in 1990.

The Trump administration has pushed education policy in favor of such alternatives to public schools, most notably by the appointment of Betsy DeVos as U.S. Secretary of Education. 

Pence returns to Wisconsin just two weeks after he appeared at a rally hosted by President Donald Trump in Milwaukee. The vice president has been a frequent visitor to the state, which is crucial for Trump's re-election chances. 

Pence made three stops in Wisconsin last year, appearing in Eau Claire in May, Pleasant Prairie in October and Marinette in November.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who appeared on stage with the president at the Milwaukee rally, said Tuesday, "it's not my job to comment" on Pence's upcoming visit.

C.J Szafir, executive vice president of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, which is one of the six groups hosting the rally, said Pence's visit shows "unlike Governor Tony Evers, the Trump Administration is willing to stand with anyone who will fight to ensure every child has access to a high-quality school.”

Evers was open to private voucher schools and charter schools early in his career and oversaw the voucher programs as Department of Public Instruction superintendent but said the expansion of vouchers was pulling funding from public schools. In his first state budget, Evers proposed pausing or scaling back school voucher programs because of the way the programs are funded. 

The event was also organized by Hispanics for School Choice, School Choice Wisconsin, Wisconsin Federation for Children, Americans for Prosperity and No Better Friend Corp., which was created by former GOP U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson. 

Molly Beck of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.