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Category: State budget

Wisconsin businesses need more engineers. GOP is holding up UW-Madison project that would help address shortage

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Republican war on diversity, equity and inclusion could cost Wisconsin hundreds of engineers.

The GOP-controlled Legislature declined to fund a new engineering building for the University of Wisconsin-Madison as part of the state budget. The project would expand enrollment in the engineering college.

Campus diversity programs under fire as legal, political battles escalate

Wisconsin Public Radio

In June, the Wisconsin Legislature approved pay increases for the 34,000 employees of the Universities of Wisconsin. Months later, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said legislators wouldn’t give final approval for the pay raises until the university system eliminates 188 positions — all the university system’s jobs Vos claims are dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion. Last month, a GOP-controlled committee affirmed the decision: The approved raises would go to all state employees except those who work within the university system.

In response, Gov. Tony Evers sued the Legislature, calling the move an unconstitutional “legislative veto.”

Lawmakers approve changes to race-based programs at Wisconsin colleges

Wisconsin Public Radio

Assembly lawmakers on Tuesday approved a wide range of proposals that would affect higher education in the state, including an automatic-admission policy for the flagship campus at the Universities of Wisconsin and standardized rules around free speech on state campuses, which Republicans argued would expand intellectual diversity and Democrats warned would have a chilling effect.

Republicans pass bill barring race-based criteria for UW financial aid, setting up likely Evers veto

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Assembly Republicans have voted to bar University of Wisconsin system officials from considering race when deciding how to distribute publicly funded financial aid to students, setting up a likely veto by Gov. Tony Evers.

The bill, which passed 62-35 along party lines Tuesday, seeks to eliminate race-based criteria for college scholarships, grants and loan programs.

UW-Madison amping up pressure on Legislature to fund new Engineering building

Wisconsin State Journal

A campaign launched this week by the Wisconsin Alumni Association, a nonprofit arm of UW-Madison that facilitates much of its fundraising efforts, is encouraging business leaders and others around the state to contact their legislators and push them to take up legislation to construct a new engineering building.

Can the University of Wisconsin recover? Campuses are closing and the system faces open hostility from the Republican Legislature

Isthmus

It may be too harsh to call it a death spiral. But the University of Wisconsin System is in trouble and it’s not clear when or how it can turn things around. Consider what’s happening.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos nixed a 6% pay raise for UW System employees while allowing it to go through for other state employees. He’s trying to put pressure on the UW to discontinue its diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Gov. Tony Evers sues GOP lawmakers over blocking UW System pay raises and conservation projects

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In a lawsuit that could upend how the state Legislature operates, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is suing Republican lawmakers over decisions to withhold pay raises for University of Wisconsin System employees and to block conservation projects, arguing such actions made by legislative committees rather than the full Legislature violate the state Constitution’s separation of powers requirements.

“That is not the Wisconsin that I know:” Universities of Wisconsin President on pay discrepancies threatening diversity & inclusion funding

WTMJ

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.

Child care advocates voice support for Evers’ workforce funding proposals

Wisconsin Public Radio

The bill reintroduces funding for programs that Evers had written into his budget proposal that were later removed by the Legislature’s Republican-led budget writing committee. It would extend a pandemic-era child care subsidy, establish a paid family and medical leave system and provide grants for the University of Wisconsin System and workforce development programs.

These southeast Wisconsin school districts have policies that affect trans students

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Two bills that never got a vote in the State Senate in 2021 were reintroduced and are now up for a vote in the Legislature that would ban transgender girls and women from competing in sports designed for women at publicly funded K-12 schools, University of Wisconsin System campuses and state technical colleges.

State workers rally amid wait for pay raise approval

NBC-15

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is blocking pay raises for University of Wisconsin employees unless the university cuts diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) spending by $32 million. UW Madison student Daniel Wise says getting rid of funding for the program would be a mistake. “As a gay man myself, I just feel that it helped me be accepted at UW Madison,” Wise said.

After questions about use of state funds, budget for Wisconsin Fast Forward workforce development program cut by 16%

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Steven Deller studies public finance and economic development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Although he doesn’t have direct knowledge of Fast Forward, he said there are “hundreds if not thousands” of federal and state-level grants that are not fully taken advantage of.

There are two main reasons, he said: a lack of awareness and cumbersome application materials. The need to ensure government money is being spent properly creates a lot of paperwork.

“If the agency is perceived as being ‘sloppy’ handing the grants out, there is a huge political price to pay,” Deller wrote via email.

Wisconsin Legislature rejects governor’s special session on child care, worker shortages

Wisconsin State Journal

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.

Republican legislators expected to reject Evers’ special session on child care, workforce today

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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.

State building commission greenlights UW-Madison’s Levy Hall, new youth prisons, Cream Puff Pavilion renovations

The Daily Cardinal

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.

Tony Evers calls special session to fund child care, expand paid family leave in Wisconsin

Wisconsin State Journal

Evers on Tuesday proposed spending $197 million to build a new engineering building on UW-Madison’s campus. He also proposed spending $66 million for the UW System’s general operations.

The GOP-led Legislature rejected funding the engineering building earlier this year and reduced the UW System’s overall budget despite Evers’ calls to spend hundreds of millions more.

Gov. Tony Evers proposes $1 billion for child care, workforce despite Republican lawmakers already denying similar plans

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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.

Wisconsin child care ‘crisis’ requires special session, Evers says

The Capital Times

Evers is again proposing spending for the University of Wisconsin System’s general operations and a new UW-Madison engineering building — both of which the Republican-authored state budget left out earlier this year. The governor’s plan includes $197 million for the engineering building, which UW-Madison previously specified as its top budget priority. The new building would replace the College of Engineering’s 83-year-old facility, adding over 1,000 engineering students per year.

Evers is also calling for $66 million in added funding for the UW System. He initially proposed a $305.9 million increase to the System’s budget over the next two years.

Robin Vos: $32M in UW funding won’t be released unless diversity programs end

Wisconsin Public Radio

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.

Washington County community college in limbo after state funding vetoed

Wisconsin State Journal

Evers, who used his partial veto powers to rewrite portions of the Republican-authored 2023-25 budget, eliminated the earmarked funding that would have helped Washington County create a community college concept that merged the resources of UW-Milwaukee at Washington County and Moraine Park Technical College, both of which have campuses in West Bend.

Wisconsin’s Democratic governor guts Republican tax cut, increases school funding for 400 years

CBS Minnesota

Evers was unable to undo the $32 million cut to the University of Wisconsin, which was funding that Republicans said would have gone toward diversity, equity and inclusion — or DEI — programming and staff. The budget Evers signed does allow for the university to get the funding later if it can show it would go toward workforce development and not DEI.