Category: State budget

More authority for all schools in the UW System. That?s what system president Kevin Reilly called for Thursday morning.

MILWAUKEE — Gov. Scott Walker said he?ll comply with a Dane County circuit judge?s order halting enactment of a law that would strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights.

Biddy Martin explained her plans to split the Madison campus from the UW System to state lawmakers at the Capitol on Thursday. The UW Madison chancellor made the pitch for her Badger Partnership plan to members of the legislature?s Joint Finance Committee. ?Let us adopt a model that allows us to thrive,? said Martin. ?Let the other campuses have the flexibilities that are appropriate their their revenue mix, their administrative capacities, their specific missions, so they to can thrive.? Martin suggested amending Governor Scott Walker?s budget, which incorporates the Badger Partnership, so the other UW campuses ?get what they need.?

MILWAUKEE — Gov. Scott Walker said he?ll comply with a Dane County circuit judge?s order halting enactment of a law that would strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights. Walker said in an appearance in Milwaukee Thursday the reason he?ll comply with Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi?s order is because it?s in writing.

The state?s new law to dramatically limit collective bargaining for public workers has not been published and is not in effect, a judge said Thursday. An official in Republican Gov. Scott Walker?s administration said he plans to comply with that order and to suspend preparations for deducting money from workers? paychecks.

University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly unveiled more details about the Wisconsin Idea Partnership proposal in a meeting with the Join Finance Committee Thursday morning.

Faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point voted Thursday to form a union with collective bargaining rights through AFT-Wisconsin, a statewide labor federation affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers. The vote was 283 to 15 in favor of union representation, AFT-Wisconsin said in a news release.

Dear Editor: People of Wisconsin, stand strong. Millions of us outside Wisconsin are so proud to see the determination of the union workers. It is heartwarming to watch Wisconsin?s brave citizens stand up to Gov. Scott Walker and his administration as well as his benefactors, the Koch brothers. Not satisfied with giving tax cuts to large businesses on the backs of the working people, they also want to eliminate collective bargaining. They are counting on workers? energy eroding. Do not fold; wait them out. You have been an inspiration to many people.

Dear Editor: The Republican Party attack on Professor William Cronon is another dark chapter in the book of hardball politics being written by the Republicans. Attacking Professor Cronon in this manner is cowardly and unfair.

What?s the hottest issue for local candidates as the April 5 election approaches?You guessed it. Gov. Scott Walker?s war on workers, education, BadgerCare, SeniorCare and the rule of law.

A prominent Wisconsin Republican operative is seeking legal permission to search through selected e-mails of a University of Wisconsin professor who wrote a blog and a New York Times Op-Ed piece that were critical of Gov. Scott Walker.

Quoted: “It’s dangerous. Arguably they’re in contempt of court already,” UW-Madison law professor Howard Schweber said Wednesday, referring to preparations under way by Walker’s administration to begin deducting more money from most public employees’ paychecks for health and pension plan costs and to stop deducting union dues.

Also: The Republicans are walking a political fine line by moving ahead as if the law is in effect while apparently defying the court, said Charles Franklin, a UW-Madison political science professor.

University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac Campus Executive Officer/Dean John Short has joined 14 other current and former UW Colleges CEO/deans in signing a letter to the Legislature?s Joint Finance Committee opposing the separation of UW-Madison from the UW System.

Despite a court order from Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi, state leaders continue to implement Wisconsin Act 10, otherwise known as the budget repair bill.

The Wisconsin Department of Administration said it?s still not sure how an amended restraining order issued Tuesday affects its implementation of the collective bargaining law.

University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Howard Schweber, an expert on constitutional law, explains the legal battle over the collective bargaining law. (Video.)

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi blocked any further implementation of Gov. Scott Walker?s budget repair law for a second time Tuesday after her previous ruling was, as she said, “misunderstood or ignored.”

The Joint Finance Committee began hearings on Gov. Scott Walker?s biennial budget Tuesday by listening to testimony from heads of agencies on how the budget affects them and what changes they recommend.

A Dane County Circuit Court judge Tuesday reinforced her previous order prohibiting the publication of the governor?s bill that would curtail collective bargaining rights for public unions and said those who continue to implement the law could face sanctions.

Last week Stephan Thompson, deputy executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party, filed an Open Records Law request asking the University of Wisconsin to turn over copies of e-mails from William J. Cronon, a tenured professor of environmental history. The request appears to have been prompted by Professor Cronon?s political activism. On March 15, Cronon published a long blog post titled ?Who?s Really Behind Recent Republican Legislation in Wisconsin and Elsewhere? (Hint: It Didn?t Start Here).?

If it wasn?t clear last time, Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi made it clear on Tuesday: Any further implementation of Gov. Scott Walker?s law limiting public employee unions is barred, and anyone who violates her order risks sanctions.Sumi made her ruling at the end of a day of testimony in the open meetings lawsuit brought by Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne. The hearing is scheduled to conclude on Friday.

Republicans broke from their party allegiance to Gov. Scott Walker in the first briefing on his budget plan Tuesday, joining Democrats in questioning the governor?s decisions to cut money for recycling and reshape the University of Wisconsin System. The meeting was a signal of how difficult it will be for Walker to get everything he wants in the two-year spending plan he delivered to the Legislature earlier this month. Rep. Pat Strachota, R-West Bend, asked Huebsch to explain why other University of Wisconsin campuses weren?t being given the same autonomy as the Madison campus under the governor?s budget. Walker is proposing spinning the flagship campus off from the UW-System and creating a new quasi-public entity giving it more autonomy to make its own spending decisions and set tuition rates. Huebsch said Walker considered giving the same authority to other campuses but they weren?t as ready as Madison to make the change. Madison?s experience will serve as a model for the other campuses, he said.

UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin promised that students from other University of Wisconsin System schools will still be able to transfer into UW-Madison through existing programs, even if the flagship university splits from the rest of the UW System. She sent a series of memos last week to chancellors of other UW System institutions reaffirming existing transfer agreements and other collaborations in response to concerns that those ties would be severed. Under a proposal in Gov. Scott Walker?s budget, UW-Madison would become a public authority with its own board of trustees.

Gov. Scott Walker?s top aide is defending the governor?s proposal to allow the University of Wisconsin-Madison to break off from the rest of the university system. Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch says the governor considered giving other four-year institutions the same possibility, but determined the other campuses weren?t as prepared as Madison for the change.

They start gathering just before noon: families touring the Capitol, downtown workers on their lunch hours, protestors of Gov. Scott Walker?s agenda who won?t say die. Some days the number gathered to raise their voices in song barely rings the rotunda, but on Tuesday, a social network call for a “Sing-In” day to object to the arrest of protesters brandishing signs in violation of new restrictions brought in a crowd.

The non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau has released its summary of the 2011-2013 state budget which includes a detailed analysis of the proposed UW-Madison Authority.  You can find the entire text of the summary here.

Gov. Scott Walker?s top aide is defending the governor?s proposal to allow the University of Wisconsin-Madison to break off from the rest of the university system and to remove the state mandate that communities provide recycling programs.

A Dane County judge has restated her order that implementation of the budget repair bill should be stopped. Judge Maryann Sumi amended her restraining order Tuesday evening, as a legal challenge that claims the bill?s passage violated the open meetings law continues.

A free market-oriented think tank in Michigan has sent the state?s three largest public universities open-records requests for any e-mails from their labor-studies faculty members dealing with the debate over collective bargaining in Wisconsin.

Recent efforts by conservative-leaning groups to obtain the e-mails of Michigan and Wisconsin public-university professors have shed light on this much: Citing a need to protect “academic freedom” is, in itself, unlikely to help the universities avoid complying with requests for e-mails under state open-records laws.

A conservative research group in Michigan has issued a far-reaching public records request to the labor studies departments at three public universities in the state, seeking any e-mails involving the Wisconsin labor turmoil.Enlarge This ImageNarayan Mahon for The New York TimesWilliam Cronon, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Adding to the confusion around its publication Friday, the state?s Department of Justice said Monday morning the budget repair bill is in fact law and asked that the current court cases be dismissed, prompting a critical response from the Dane County district attorney later in the evening.

A new nonpartisan analysis of Gov. Scott Walker?s two-year budget plan shows that overall state spending would increase by a mere 1 percent over the life of the plan. The Legislature Fiscal Bureau report released Monday shows that spending would go up that much compared with the current two-year budget. That includes money transferred to quasi-public authorities created, most significantly the proposed breaking off of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Been quiet here on the western front. Some links and thoughts on the WIP as proposed by the UW System versus the New Badger Partnership, proposed by UW-Madison and Chancellor Biddy Martin. One fundamental difference: the WIP was a hastily put together document with no consultation happening between UW-Madison students and the UW System Regents. Alternatively, the New Badger Partnership is an extremely public document with thousands of hours of debate and analysis behind its name.

Several university faculties in Wisconsin have voted overwhelmingly to join the American Federation of Teachers, a move the union says amounts to a backlash against Gov. Scott Walker?s bid to strip their collective bargaining powers. 

UW-Madison students got to voice their concerns about the New Badger Partnership at a campus forum Monday.

The legislature?s powerful joint finance committee will begin work this week on the governor?s budget proposal.This is the week when cabinet secretaries appear before the finance panel to brief lawmakers on the governor?s plans for state agencies. On Thursday, two of the most controversial pieces of the governor?s budget will get an airing as the University of Wisconsin and the Department of Public Instruction appear before the finance committee

In a public forum Monday, the University of Wisconsin dean of students and several deans of individual schools said university operation is hampered by a human resources structure that does not fit a world-class institution.

Both the American Association of University Professors and the American Historical Association are opposing efforts by the Republican Party of Wisconsin to obtain e-mails sent by William Cronon, a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, following his publication of a blog post critical of that state?s Republican governor, Scott Walker.

The Republican Party of Wisconsin filed an open records request to obtain UW-Madison history professor William Cronon?s e-mails, sparking a debate over academic freedom.

Faculty at a Madison area college ratified contract amendments cutting pay increases to prevent layoffs despite concerns on how the new contracts could negatively affect students.

The Legislative Reference Bureau published Gov. Scott Walker?s controversial budget repair bill online Friday afternoon, prompting discussions as to whether the publication meant the bill had become law.

The American Historical Association has jumped into the ring to defend William Cronon, the University of Wisconsin professor whose emails?some of them, anyway?had been requested by a top official with the Wisconsin Republican Party.