Category: State news

Citing a strong partnership with UW-Manitowoc, the County Board came out against Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed $300 million budget cut to the University of Wisconsin System.

As we continue to wrestle with potential cuts to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, I am reminded of a quote from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Herbert Swope: “I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody.”

UW–Platteville is cutting $3.7 million from its 2015–16 budget and increasing revenues by $1.5 million to address the university’s existing structural deficit and expected state aid cuts in the state’s 2015–17 budget.

APPLETON (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker says new tax collection forecasts coming out in May will not provide a windfall, but any additional revenue should first be directed to help K-12 schools.

The leader of Wisconsin’s largest private university says he’s worried that proposed budget cuts to the University of Wisconsin System might harm collaborations with his school.

Two University of Wisconsin campuses are seeing more than one-third of employees seek voluntary buyouts among faculty and staff members who are eligible for early retirement.

The University of Wisconsin-Parkside knows it has to plan for some cut in state funding over the next biennium, but there’s been no word yet on exactly how much, and administrators are doing the best they can to minimize the impact on campus.

Every Wisconsin legislator knows how they want to spend any unexpected windfall in tax collections in the two-year budget cycle that ends in mid-2017. Their wish lists include more money for K-12 schools, especially rural schools; reducing Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed $300-million cut in state aid to the UW System; borrowing less to put more cash into highway construction and maintenance statewide, and maintaining current programs that help seniors and the disabled.

UW-Platteville and UW-Stout recently became the latest campuses in the University of Wisconsin System to offer buyouts to senior staff to mitigate Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed cuts of $300 million to state campuses in the next two years.

Wisconsin’s flagship university will eliminate some 400 jobs, curtail support services and cut or combine certain programs in response to a multimillion-dollar budget cut proposed in Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s state budget.

Noted: Petrowski says the bigger and more controversial things often get dealt with later in the budget process. That’s why he doesn’t see the University of Wisconsin budget cuts getting immediate attention. He is concerned about what that UW budget is going to do to the smaller, two-year campuses like those in Marshfield and Wausau.  “When you get to a lot of the two-year schools, there’s not a lot of places that they can cut other than personnel, you know, like when you’re dealing with Madison of course, you have a lot of the research coming in, a lot of those dollars coming in through research, and other activities, and like in UW Marathon County, there’s not that option there.”

The Marquette University Law School poll released Thursday found 70 percent oppose Walker’s proposal to cut University of Wisconsin funding by $300 million, while 26 percent support it. The poll found 78 percent oppose Walker’s plan cutting funding for K-12 schools by $127 million, while 18 support it.

The Marquette University Law School poll released Thursday found 70 percent oppose Walker’s proposal to cut University of Wisconsin funding by $300 million, while 26 percent support it.

The Joint Finance Committee will vote on a proposal in Gov. Scott Walker’s two-year budget that would scrap the Educational Approval Board, which oversees about 250 institutions enrolling about 60,000 students. In the 2013-14 reporting period, the schools received a total of more than $350 million in tuition.

KIMBERLY – With $300 million in budget cuts looming for the University of Wisconsin System, community leaders and educators discussed challenges and brainstormed ideas Wednesday for making public higher education more sustainable in the state.

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — University of Wisconsin-Platteville leaders will make $3.7 million in budget cuts over the next two years through a series of cost-saving measures, including the elimination of some staff positions and the creation of an incentivised early retirement program.

SOMERS — Heads turned and people stopped to stare as about three dozen students and staff chanting “up, up with education, down, down with legislation” marched on the University of Wisconsin-Parkside campus on Wednesday, protesting proposed state budget cuts.

SOMERS — A small but loud group of students and staff marched through the University of Wisconsin-Parkside campus Wednesday afternoon, calling attention to budget cuts they believe will come if legislators approve Gov. Scott Walker’s budget as is.

If Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed higher education funding cuts pass, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee could nix as many as 300 positions, between buyouts, attrition and layoffs.

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow doesn’t see the value in Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to cap tuition at UW System campuses to the rate of inflation.

Another University of Wisconsin campus has announced a potential early retirement plan for its employees, raising concerns about larger class sizes.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s higher education reporter says the proposal to transform the University of Wisconsin System into a public authority seems unlikely to become reality, though that does not rule out the possibility that the system will gain some flexibility after the budget is signed.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos held a news conference Tuesday in which he expressed support for a cap on University of Wisconsin tuition increases, as well as funding changes for state parks and a prescription drug program.

University of Wisconsin President Ray Cross said Tuesday he does not support Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to peg future tuition increases to the rate of inflation.

Three Republican lawmakers held a listening session Monday at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, which faces a 25 percent cut in state aid under Gov. Walker’s proposed state budget. It was the first budget hearing by Republicans on the campus.