Category: State budget

The governor accused Republicans of an intrusion into executive powers and violating the Wisconsin Constitution.

The Republican led Joint Committee on Employee Relations voted to separate employees of the University of Wisconsin system from other state workers who will receive a pay increase.

UW System President Jay Rothman is disappointed with the outcome and says they will make the best of this difficult situation.

Half of state workers, about 34,000 people, will not be getting pay raises included in the state budget, as a Republican-controlled committee on Tuesday approved a 6 percent raise over two years for all but those who work for the University of Wisconsin System.

In an ongoing battle between Republican legislative leaders and the state’s public university system, GOP lawmakers on Tuesday approved a two-year pay increase for state workers but left out the 41,000 people who work for the University of Wisconsin System.

It would also provide up to 12 weeks of paid family leave for Wisconsin workers starting in 2025 at a cost of $243 million, and would give UW an additional $66 million.

That money would give UW a boost after the Legislature cut its budget by $32 million. On top of that, Vos said last week that he won’t approve pay raises for UW employees that were included in the state budget unless the university cuts diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Evers’ plan would funnel $66 million toward the UW System following a bruising budget season that included a $32 million cut. The $32 million is what Republicans identified as going toward diversity, equity and inclusion spending at universities over two years. A veto by Evers allowed campuses to absorb the cut while saving DEI positions.

University of Wisconsin System employees may see no bump in their paychecks this year despite 4% raises already being funded in the state budget.

Evers has said he was open to reconsidering cutting taxes if Republicans would look at funding some of his priorities. Evers called a special session for the Legislature next week to spend more than $1 billion for child care, the University of Wisconsin System, worker shortage programs and other areas.

The University of Wisconsin Madison will absorb the bulk of a state funding cut this year. And despite the first increase in tuition costs for Wisconsin undergraduates in more than a decade, most other campuses face budget deficits and will pull from reserves.

Notable UW-Madison projects approved include releasing funds for the construction of Levy Hall — the proposed new College of Letters and Science academic building — the Veterinary Medicine Addition and Renovation project and the Chemistry Buildings Addition and Renovation project.

Evers’ $1 billion plan would allocate more than $365 million to child care programs, guarantee 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for Wisconsin workers, invest $66.4 million in UW System schools, award nearly $200 million for UW-Madison’s proposed engineering building and millions more for workforce education and grant programs.

Officials at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh plan to lay off scores of employees, offer early retirement deals and impose furloughs as they grapple with a projected $18 million deficit, Chancellor Andrew Leavitt announced Thursday.

University of Wisconsin Oshkosh will cut over 200 non-faculty employees and administrators this fall — about 14% of its workforce — and furlough all others, President Jay Rothman told reporters Thursday.

The board overseeing Wisconsin’s public universities on Friday approved spending nearly $60 million to finish several University of Wisconsin-Madison building projects that are over budget.

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says Republicans will withhold $32 million in funding for the University of Wisconsin System unless it ends diversity, equity and inclusion programming. The statement comes one day after a veto from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers reinstated 188 DEI positions at state campuses with a budget veto.

At least one member of the board overseeing the University of Wisconsin System is pushing for more transparency about the dire financial situation facing some campuses.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a Republican plan Wednesday that would have merged the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Washington County with Moraine Park Technical College.

In signing the state’s two-year spending plan Wednesday, Gov. Tony Evers used his partial veto authority to ensure rising public school funding for four centuries, remove proposed tax cuts for top earners, and retain University of Wisconsin System diversity positions.

Tommy Thompson, a former governor and former president of the UW System, said the time is now to address the fiscal future of the statewide public university system and overlaps with technical colleges across Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Senate voted to pass a two-year budget plan Wednesday that drastically cuts the state’s income taxes, decreases funding for the University of Wisconsin System and excludes many priorities that were originally included in Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposal including paid family and medical leave and state funding for the Child Care Counts program.

The Republican-controlled state Senate on Wednesday passed a nearly $99 billion two-year spending plan for the state that again cuts taxes by more than $3 billion, using a windfall of unexpected revenue Wisconsin has amassed navigating the coronavirus pandemic.

Republican lawmakers drafting a bill that would require Wisconsin’s most competitive university to accept every top-ranking high school graduate in the state initially wanted the bill to apply to every high school in the country, lawmakers’ aides told reporters on Wednesday.