“It’s a good time to be a private litigator” in Wisconsin, said Barry Burden, University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor and director of the Elections Research Center. “This has become a very litigious state at a high level, in federal court and in the state Supreme Court.”
Andrew Reschovsky, an emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, estimates Madison schools will receive about $9.6 million more in special education aid over the next two years. But he said without increases to general aid or equalization aid — other major forms of state funding for schools — Madison must rely more heavily on local taxes for funding.
“Even though special education aid has been increased, it’s still a relatively small part of total state aid,” he said. “At the state level, state aid all together is less than half of total money needed, or total revenues, to support K-12 education.”
Overall, tuition hikes are expected to generate about $49 million in additional revenue, said Julie Gordon, interim vice president of finance and administration, during a meeting of the regents’ Business and Finance Committee on July 10.
Increases in tuition are needed despite an increase in state funding for the UW System in the 2025-27 state budget, regents and UW staff said during July 10 discussions.
Faculty members at most campuses across the University of Wisconsin system will soon have to teach at least eight courses per academic year.
The president of the Universities of Wisconsin is proposing a tuition increase for the upcoming school year.
President Jay Rothman’s proposal would increase tuition for in-state undergraduates by 4 percent.
In-state undergraduate students at the Universities of Wisconsin would pay hundreds more in tuition in the 2025-26 academic year under a proposal President Jay Rothman announced Tuesday.
Tuition at Wisconsin’s public universities could increase up to 5 percent under a new plan released Tuesday.
Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman will ask the Board of Regents on July 10 to increase tuition for undergraduate residents by 4 percent, with individual campuses able to add an optional additional 1 percent increase.
Pending an upcoming vote, tuition for University of Wisconsin System students is set to rise in the upcoming school year.
The Board of Regents is expected to vote July 10 on a proposed 5% increase to resident undergraduate tuition for most UW campuses. At UW-Madison, that 5% tuition increase would add an additional $500, bringing the 2025-26 annual resident undergraduate tuition to $10,506.
In their latest attempt at micromanaging an institution for which their support ranks 44th among the 50 states, the budget contains a provision that requires faculty members to teach at least 24 credit hours per year, a number that is reduced to 12 credit hours for the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Faculty can buy down the number of courses they must teach by replacing their compensation with funding from other sources, like grants, the reporters explained.
Gov. Tony Evers signed Wisconsin’s 2025-27 bipartisan state budget into law Thursday morning, securing a $256 million increase to the University of Wisconsin System budget after months of negotiations with Republican lawmakers. It’s a far cry from the $856 million the system requested, but a welcome alternative to the $87 million cut Republican legislators floated just two weeks ago.
“Evers got most of what he wanted. He is now in a position to say, ‘I’ve done what I needed to do. I got funding back to UW [the University of Wisconsin system], I got funding for child care, we’ve saved the kids in Wisconsin.’ We’ve got a kids budget — I think that gives him an out,” said Brandon Scholz, a Wisconsin Republican strategist. “He can go out on top.”
Gov. Tony Evers signed the $111 billion two-year state budget bill into law overnight following a marathon day of overlapping Senate and Assembly floor sessions where the bill received bipartisan support from lawmakers. The budget cuts taxes by $1.3 billion, makes investments in the University of Wisconsin system, boosts public schools’ special education reimbursement rate to 45% and allocates about $330 for child care.
Wisconsin lawmakers voted to approve a state budget late Wednesday night that spends more than $111 billion over the next two years, cuts more than 300 state jobs and increases funding for the child care industry and the Universities of Wisconsin system. It also cuts taxes by about $1.4 billion.
Tax cuts for retirees and middle-income residents, raises for UW system employees and an increase in special education funding are among highlights of the $111 billion state budget, signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers early Thursday morning.
The overall package cuts taxes by $1.3 billion, spends hundreds of millions on building projects on University of Wisconsin System campuses, expands Medicaid funding, increases funding for special education and funds new childcare programs, among other measures. In all, it spends $111 billion, a 12% increase over current spending levels.
UW System President Jay Rothman is celebrating the funding increase the system will get in the next state budget as part of a bipartisan agreement announced Tuesday morning.
Gov. Tony Evers and Republican legislative leaders reached an agreement Tuesday to a $256 million increase for the University of Wisconsin System — the largest funding increase in about two decades.
This would be a major turnaround for the UW System in the budget after Republican lawmakers threatened an $87 million cut just two weeks ago. The UW Board of Regents and Evers originally proposed a record-high $856 million increase for the system, a total that would bring the state’s public higher education funding in line with the national median.
Democrats on the committee criticized the overall outcome, saying it doesn’t go far enough. They called for another half billion for the UW system and nearly $750 million for the Department of Children and Families including $200 million for childcare providers.
The plan to close the prison was not part of a negotiated deal with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, which included tax cuts, increased Medicaid funding and a boost for the University of Wisconsin System. Because the prison plan is not a part of the deal, Evers could veto the plan once the full budget reaches his desk.
The University of Wisconsin System had braced for a state budget cut. Instead, UW institutions are poised to get more money than they have in recent years — but the cash comes with some strings.
But most notably, he cited the impacts. The funding cuts have marred efforts to train 24 school psychology graduates at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who were set to work in high-need schools after graduation. Although 19 students were on track to graduate, the university projects a loss of more than $2.8 million. That funding loss, the institution warned, means some students may not be able to finish their degrees or afford to work in the schools once they graduate.
The budget deal includes $14 million in municipal service payments — payments from the state for police, fire and waste removal services provided to state facilities by local governments — a significant chunk of which will go to the City of Madison. It also includes $194 million for projects at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is in Roys’ district.
Gov. Tony Evers, Assembly Republicans, Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats say they’ve reached a bipartisan deal on the next state budget.
The announcement comes just hours before the legislative committee that writes the state budget is set to vote on funding for a slew of government agencies.
Gov. Tony Evers, Assembly Republicans, Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats say they’ve reached a bipartisan deal on the next state budget.
The announcement comes just hours before the legislative committee that writes the state budget is set to vote on funding for a slew of government agencies.
Wisconsin legislative Republicans and Governor Tony Evers have reached an agreement on the 2025-2027 state budget, delivering nearly $1.5 billion in tax cuts alongside investments in education, infrastructure, and childcare.
A recent survey by the Institute for Research on Poverty at UW-Madison shows 90% of Wisconsinites, including those without kids, said finding affordable, high-quality child care is a problem in the state.
Gov. Tony Evers and Republican and Democratic legislative leaders have reached a tentative agreement on the 2025-27 state budget, agreeing to invest hundreds of millions in the University of Wisconsin system, to create new grant and payment programs for child care facilities, further boost investment in special education and cut $1.3 billion in taxes.
Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republicans who control the state Legislature announced a deal Tuesday on a new two-year budget that cuts income taxes, increases funding for the Universities of Wisconsin despite a threatened cut and raises fees to pay for transportation projects.
A tentative bipartisan deal between Gov. Tony Evers and Republican leaders in the state Legislature calls for billions in new spending on public schools, child care and state universities, along with income tax cuts worth more than $1 billion.
Like other universities across the country, the University of Wisconsin-Madison isn’t immune to growing financial pressures from federal funding cuts, changes and delays.
Over half of the 18 universities in the Big Ten have announced some kind of belt-tightening measures in recent months, as President Donald Trump’s administration has altered or slashed federal funding for research and higher education.
Gov. Tony Evers and Republican leaders in the Legislature have reached a budget agreement that could give the Universities of Wisconsin its biggest boost in two decades, increase how much the state reimburses school districts for special education and continue subsidies for the state’s child care industry.
Under the deal, the UW system will get $256 million in new state aid that must be allocated under two new formulas that prioritize stabilizing campuses with declining enrollment and rewarding campuses for the number of credit hours that students complete.
Leaders in the state Capitol announced with hours to spare before the dawn of a new fiscal year that they had reached a tentative agreement on key elements of the state budget, including Medicaid funding, special education, childcare and the University of Wisconsin System.
In the end, at around 10:30 p.m., the committee began its meeting but scrapped votes on the most controversial areas of the budget, like the University of Wisconsin System, Medicaid funding, and whether to close the Green Bay Correctional Institution. Those areas are scheduled to be taken up Tuesday, July 1 — a day before the full Legislature is set to vote on the new budget bill.
It did not take up funding for the Universities of Wisconsin system, which has been a sticking point in negotiations between Gov. Tony Evers and legislative Republicans. Evers has requested $856 million while Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, says he wants to cut $87 million.
Materials engineering programs typically have dozens of students, not hundreds. To put this into perspective, however, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts an average of just 10 job openings per year for neurologists in Wisconsin. Hopefully, no one would suggest that UW-Madison should stop training neurology residents, since most of us recognize that medical specialists are essential to the kind of society we want to have.
The state Legislature’s finance committee is scheduled on Friday, June 27, to take votes on the 18 remaining areas of the budget that have yet to be written.
The expected work comes after the committee canceled a planned set of votes on key areas, including funding for the University of Wisconsin System, amid an impasse that materialized between the two Republican caucuses and Evers.
If legislators truly want viewpoint diversity and top talent to help Wisconsin citizens earn a college degree and achieve a better future, they should begin by paying UW System faculty at least an average salary. Not by cutting the UW System budget even more than they have already.
The Marquette survey also found most respondents favor keeping funding for state universities flat or reducing it. Among all registered voters, 49 percent said Universities of Wisconsin funding should be kept the same, 27 percent said it should be increased and 23 percent said funding should be reduced.
While the UW system requested an $855 million increase in state funding in its budget request, Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly have endorsed cutting it by $87 million over the next two years.
And it appears any increase in state aid for Universities of Wisconsin campuses will be a hard sell. Across the board, 49% support keeping funding steady, with only a slight majority of Democrats favoring increasing state aid.
The UW system and Evers asked for an increase of $856 million for the next budget, but Republicans last week hinted they were considering an $87 million cut. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said the other sides’ proposals are non-starters for them.
Evers said discussions about the funding for the University of Wisconsin had included “a positive number” though he wouldn’t go into details. Last week, Vos said his caucus intended to cut $87 million from the UW system.
The University of Wisconsin System has seen an increase of staff and salaries over the past 10 years while student enrollment has dropped by 16,000, according to an audit released by the chairs of the state audit committee.
Academic staff grew 33.4% with a 97.4% increase in salary costs over that time while limited appointees rose 39% with a 78.3% increase in salary costs.
Advocates for higher education say it’s the wrong time for lawmakers to be considering a funding cut for Wisconsin’s university system.
Republicans in the state Assembly are floating the idea of slashing $87 million from the Universities of Wisconsin as part of the biennial budget. Last week, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told reporters that he supports the cut, citing concerns about “too much political correctness” within the university system.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Milwaukee are cutting costs over the next school year amid financial uncertainty at the federal and state level.
UW-Madison told schools and colleges to shave 5% of their 2026 budget. The administration and other units must trim 7%. Some exceptions may apply depending on a division’s financial circumstances.
University of Wisconsin-Madison schools and colleges will reduce their base budgets by 5%, and administrative units will reduce their budgets by 7% amid federal reductions and uncertainties about state funding, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin announced Monday.
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin noted in a Monday message to UW–Madison faculty and staff that both the above issues factored into the base budget reductions of 5% that schools and colleges will be required to implement for next school year. Administrative and all other units that receive 101 funds will reduce their fund 101 base budgets by 7%.
UW-Madison announced on Monday that schools and colleges will be required to cut their budgets by 5% of their allocation in fiscal year 2026.
Deans and vice chancellors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will have to make tough choices in the coming weeks. University leadership on Monday announced budget cuts for the next financial year.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is cutting its budget due to ongoing financial uncertainties stemming from changes to federal funding.
Schools and colleges will face a 5% base budget cut for fiscal year 2026, while administrative units will see a 7% reduction. These cuts are part of efforts to protect the university’s financial viability amid risks like potential federal funding changes and grant terminations.
UW-Madison leaders are telling all departments to reduce their budgets by at least 5% amid a flurry of federal changes shaking up higher education and now further uncertainty surrounding the state’s budget.
Facing funding cuts from the Trump administration and uncertainty from the Wisconsin Legislature, the leader of the state’s flagship university directed all departments Monday to cut their budgets between 5 percent and 7 percent next year.
While the program was set to end in January 2024, Evers kept it afloat with emergency funding through June 2025.Evers has never vetoed the state budget in full, but he has threatened to do so in previous years over issues like funding cuts for the University of Wisconsin System.Evers said negotiations over UW System funding levels this year are going in the “right direction” but didn’t reveal specifics, other than, “it’s a positive number.” Last week, Vos confirmed his caucus would support an $87 million cut.
The leader of Wisconsin’s 13 public universities said without additional funding in the next state budget, he expects more branch campus closures, decreased affordability for students, layoffs and program cuts.
“All of which will hit hardest at our most vulnerable UWs,” Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman said on social media this week.
One in four Wisconsin child care providers could close their doors if the state support for centers ends in June, according to a survey of child care providers commissioned by the state Department of Children and Families (DCF) and produced by the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Assembly GOP leaders said they’ve had “productive conversations towards a budget that cuts taxes, puts more money into K-12 schools to stave off higher property taxes, and funds childcare and the university system in exchange for meaningful reforms.”
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said his caucus supports cutting $87 million from the UW system, but wouldn’t say if that’s the final proposal the budget committee will take up. The system has said it needs additional funding and Evers had requested $855 million in his proposal for it. Vos says Republicans want “reform” of the UW for the “broken process that we currently have.”
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, told reporters Wednesday afternoon the Republican caucus supports a roughly $80 million cut to the University of Wisconsin System budget, saying the reform is needed to fix the “broken” process currently in place.
“The income tax proposals cost the state a fair amount of money, but it’s not a huge share of the state budget,” said Ross Milton, an assistant professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “The flip side of that is that the impacts to any given household in Wisconsin in terms of how much money they’ll save on income taxes are pretty modest.”
Republicans who control the state Legislature are considering cutting funding to the University of Wisconsin System by $87 million as they build a new two-year state budget that may require Democratic votes to pass.
Republicans on the Legislature’s budget committee may deal the Universities of Wisconsin the system’s biggest cut in nearly a decade, to the tune of $87 million.
The cut was first reported by Civic Media on Monday night. By contrast, the UW system had requested an increase in state aid of $856 million. The committee had been slated to take up the UW system’s budget on Tuesday but punted it for unspecified reasons.
GOP lawmakers also delayed a vote on the Universities of Wisconsin budget which had been scheduled for Tuesday. Evers’ budget called for about a $700 million increase in state funding for the UW system.
Democratic lawmakers told reporters Tuesday they’d heard Republicans were considering cutting funds to the UW system. The GOP cochairs of the budget committee did not comment when asked about that prospect.
