The showdown over collective bargaining rights for public employees is just the first step in a contentious debate over how to solve Wisconsin?s budget woes, with newly elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker also seeking to dismantle an array of social policies enacted under his Democratic predecessor. On the chopping block is a policy allowing in-state college tuition for the children of illegal immigrants. Walker?s budget plan would ax a Democratic initiative approved under former Gov. Jim Doyle that grants in-state college tuition rates to children of illegal immigrants, so long as the students have graduated from a Wisconsin high school and lived in the state for at least three years. The students also have to sign an affidavit promising to pursue legal residency or citizenship. Fewer than two dozen of the 182,000 students in the University of Wisconsin system have used the program, said university spokesman David Giroux.
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