Author: jplucas

Gov. Scott Walker plans to phase out a program designed to help students ? especially those from low-income families ? find a path to attend college.

Education and local government bear the brunt of Gov. Scott Walker?s first budget, a reform-minded plan that cuts about $1 billion in state aid and prevents officials from raising taxes to make up the difference.

The University of Wisconsin System would lose $250 million in state aid and face its first major restructuring in 40 years under Gov. Scott Walker?s proposed two-year budget.

Gov. Scott Walker will reveal on Tuesday the full cuts in state programs such as health care for the poor and aid to local governments he says are needed to balance the state?s more than $3 billion budget deficit over the next two years.

At the same time, the state will hit a deadline for doing a refinancing deal that the Republican governor said is key to solving a more immediate budget problem and preventing the layoffs of up to 1,500 state workers. On Monday, Senate Democrats who have blocked that deal by holing up in Illinois put forward their own plan that they said could prevent the layoffs even if the refinancing falls through.

University of Wisconsin leaders will be closely watching the Governor?s budget announcement Tuesday afternoon. Amid speculation Walker will announce a split of UW-Madison from the system’s 25 other schools, some school leaders are voicing their concern.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, quickly becoming a darling of Republicans across the country for his plan to take away most collective bargaining rights from public workers, will get another chance to bolster his national conservative credentials when he unveils the rest of his plan for dealing with the state?s budget woes.

Protests continued in downtown Madison, but those who showed up at the state Capitol on Monday were denied access to the building.

As the governor prepares to reveal his budget on Tuesday, major changes could be in store for schools in the UW-System. The flagship, UW-Madison, may split from the rest.

The proposal to split the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the UW System does not belong in Gov. Scott Walker?s budget bill.

Along with others, former speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly and current University of WisconsinRegent Tom Loftus has asked Chancellor Biddy Martin to withdraw her support for the proposal to separate the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the rest of the UW System.

Yesterday I got the chance to catch up with a friend from high school who is now a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My friend, Andrew, lives a 10-15 minute walk away from the state capital. Andrew considers himself a conservative, moderate Republican, so I was surprised to hear that he is not supportive of Governor Walker s plan to heal the state s deficit.

The budget-repair bill, which would strip most collective-bargaining rights from 175,000 public-sector workers while imposing immediate benefits concessions, prompted rapid mobilization on the part of unions. Before Walker unveiled his budget-repair bill on Feb. 11, the Teaching Assistants? Association at UW-Madison, along with campus student groups Student Labor Action Coalition and Multicultural Student Coalition, had planned a noon march from the Memorial Union to the Capitol to deliver “I Heart UW” valentines to Walker and urge him not to cut education funding. They were hoping to draw a couple hundred. The budget bill changed everything. More than 1,000 people joined the march and rally, screaming “Spread the love, Stop the hate, Don?t let Walker legislate.” That night, TAA leaders went back to campus and sent their 2,800 UW-Madison members an e-mail urging them to return to the Capitol on Tuesday and testify at the Legislature?s powerful Joint Finance Committee, which had scheduled a hearing on the bill at 10 a.m.

The facts have been overshadowed by rhetoric at the Wisconsin Capitol, where protesters and politicians have been engaged in a tense standoff over the governor?s proposal to strip most public employees of their collective-bargaining rights. Gov. Scott Walker insists the state is broke and must make drastic spending cuts. Walker says his plan is needed to ease a deficit that is projected to hit $137 million by July and $3.6 billion by mid-2013. Not raising taxes and not tapping federal aid leaves Walker with few alternatives other than reducing the money the state gives to schools and local governments or reducing Medicaid to the extent allowed under federal law. Aid to schools and local governments is more than half of the entire state budget. Medical assistance programs are 9 percent, as is funding for the state prison system and money for the University of Wisconsin system. Walker won?t make cuts to the prisons, but he?s expected to make deep reductions in higher education.

Tommy Thompson was about halfway into his breakfast of whole wheat toast and bacon at Kavanaugh?s Esquire Club on North Sherman Avenue on Saturday morning when somebody at the table asked for his take on the crisis at the state Capitol. “I think you never like to see this kind of disruption,” the former governor said. “It possibly could have been handled better. I?m not being critical. I still support Scott Walker and what he does.” He also has an eye on the possibility of UW-Madison splitting from the rest of the University of Wisconsin System. Thompson was in the state Assembly when the system was established and worries about the impact the split might have on other state universities. He said he is not completely versed on the proposal, but added, “At first blush, I?m not sure it?s the right decision.”

The occupation of the Wisconsin Capitol by protesters fighting efforts to strip public workers of union bargaining rights carried on Sunday after police decided not to forcibly remove demonstrators and end a nearly two-week-long sit-in. A cheer went up from the several hundred protesters who had ignored a request from the state agency that oversees the Capitol to leave by 4 p.m. so that the normally immaculate building could get a thorough cleaning. “If you want to leave _ it?s totally cool, because the doors will be open around 8 a.m.” on Monday, said protest coordinator Erika Wolf, 25, who works with the United Council of University of Wisconsin Students.

Protesters who spent the night in Wisconsin?s Capitol vowed Monday to remain as long as necessary to speak out against Gov. Scott Walker?s plan to end most collective bargaining rights and demonstrate against his budget. Walker planned to deliver his two-year budget plan in the state Assembly chamber on Tuesday afternoon. He has said that plan will help make clear why the collective bargaining concessions he is seeking from public employees are necessary to help plug a $3.6 billion shortfall.Walker has said his budget will include about a $1 billion cut in state aids to schools and local governments. He is also expected to propose dramatic changes to how the University of Wisconsin is organized, make cuts to Medicaid and possibly increase fees to help raise money.

Are the University of Wisconsin System and its Madison campus headed for divorce court? Can this marriage be saved? Should it be saved?

These are good questions, but no one can answer them yet because Gov. Scott Walker has yet to make fully public a proposal for such a split.

But we can speak to what we will consider, and it is not a given that what is good for the Madison campus is be good for Wisconsin, the rest of the UW System or the Milwaukee campus. Put another way, how Madison benefits should not necessarily trump the needs of the state, the system, the Milwaukee campus or students.

Gov. Scott Walker said Sunday he supports spinning off not just the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a separate authority, but a number of other campuses as well.

“I?d like to offer that for all the campuses,” the Republican governor said on “Upfront with Mike Gousha” on WISN-TV (Channel 12). “I?d like to see that expanded to give them flexibility all throughout the state.”

Along with others, former Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly and current University of Wisconsin Regent Tom Loftus has asked Chancellor Biddy Martin to withdraw her support for the proposal to separate UW-Madison from the rest of the UW System.

JANESVILLE ? UW-Madison leaders insist transfer agreements with other universities won?t change if the flagship campus splits from the statewide system, but local educators remain skeptical.

Last Friday the UW Board of Regents held a meeting to discuss the possibility of Madison separating from the UW System.