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Representatives from five state agencies, including the University of Wisconsin System, testified before the state’s budget committee Tuesday.

The president of the UW System told the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) Tuesday he is open to performance-based funding based on a set of certain criteria. “Graduation rates – both four-year and six-year, number of degrees granted – total degrees, STEM degrees, retention rates – first to second year,” Cross told JFC members, listing off a total of eight standards.

New operating flexibilities for the University of Wisconsin System would save only $15 million to $20 million in the first year if approved, UW System President Ray Cross testified Tuesday before the Legislatures budget-writing committee.

Republicans on the Legislature’s finance committee demanded assurances Tuesday from University of Wisconsin System officials that they won’t dramatically increase tuition if they’re uncoupled from state oversight under Gov. Scott Walker’s budget plan.

Cross acknowledged the need created by Walker’s proposed budget for all state agencies to make “difficult decisions,” but said the level of the proposed cut is “serious.” UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Jim Schmidt added that a $300 million cut to the system would be “too much and too fast.”

University of Wisconsin System president Ray Cross told the Legislature’s budget committee Tuesday that he endorses Gov. Scott Walker’s budget plan to turn the 26-campus system into an independent public authority.But Cross told the committee that the governor’s plan to cut $300 million over two years beginning in July is “too much and too fast.”

University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross is asking the Legislature’s budget committee to scale back Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to cut $300 million from the system.

Republicans on the Legislature’s finance committee demanded assurances Tuesday from University of Wisconsin System officials that they won’t dramatically increase tuition if they’re uncoupled from state oversight under Gov. Scott Walker’s budget plan.

University of Wisconsin System officials briefed members of the legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance, on how the proposed UW System public authority and increased flexibilities included in Governor Scott Walker’s budget could impact the UW.

MADISON, Wisconsin — The Legislature’s finance committee began on Monday a months-long push to revise Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal for the next two fiscal years, grilling a handful of state officials on cuts to the University of Wisconsin System, plans for a new Milwaukee Bucks arena and the manning of prison towers.

Although they don’t have all the details, the University of Wisconsin’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences realizes that it will be impacted by the $300 million dollar budget cut proposed for the next two years. The dean of CALS says all aspects of the school may be affected including faculty, class size and even research. Something that ultimately will be felt by the ag community throughout the state.

MADISON — A nonpartisan analysis of Gov. Scott Walker’s nearly $70 billion budget proposal released Thursday will serve as the blueprint for legislative debate for the next four months.

Seventy-four University of Wisconsin faculty members from campuses across the state signed an open letter to UW System president Ray Cross, “insisting in the strongest possible terms” that Cross oppose Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to restructure the university as a public authority.

A group of professors, staffers and students from University of Wisconsin campuses statewide urged UW System president Ray Cross to withdraw support for sweeping changes to the universities proposed by Gov. Scott Walker, calling for a two-year moratorium.

These are challenging days at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Because the university is so intrinsically linked to the community, I want you to know what has transpired.

Public higher education in Wisconsin always has kept a strong focus on the future. That is why it is encouraging to me to see the elements in Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal that reinforce the University of Wisconsin System’s concentration on and commitment to shaping our identity of tomorrow while we deal with the challenges of today.

MADISON, Wis. — Atop a steep hill on the University of Wisconsin campus is a granite boulder affixed with a bronze plaque commemorating the university system’s lofty mission: to benefit the entire state by promoting public service and a search for truth.

Wisconsin’s governor, Scott Walker, hasn’t announced a presidential run. But it’s a safe bet that higher education will come up often if he seeks the Republican nomination, as many presume.

The Republican governor raised the prospect Thursday of limiting tuition increases at the state campuses to inflation, after his four-year freeze expires. Gov. Scott Walker raised the prospect Thursday of limiting tuition increases at University of Wisconsin schools to inflation after his proposed freeze expires in two years.

The suggestion might win over lawmakers concerned that more autonomy for the University of Wisconsin System would lead to runaway tuition increases, but it calls into question how much independence university officials would have under Walker’s 2015-17 budget proposal.

Vos told reporters he’s met with Blank and new UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone and is “sympathetic to the plight that they are expressing.” … Vos said if lawmakers do impose significant cuts, they need to ensure the universities are given the “maximum amount of flexibility” to absorb them. He also acknowledged that it would be difficult to implement such large reductions at the beginning of the fiscal year, July 1, because new students will have been accepted and classes will have been scheduled at that point.

MADISON — Gov. Scott Walker said Thursday that he would be open to extending a tuition freeze at the University of Wisconsin System beyond the next two years he’s currently proposing, offering the idea as yet another option to help sell his reorganization plan to a reluctant Legislature.

There is bipartisan concern, over the governor’s proposals for the University of Wisconsin System – especially for the impact it could have on smaller campuses. Assembly minority leader Peter Barca D-Kenosha said Thursday that he’s been meeting with chancellors of UW campuses, and has come away with serious concerns about potentially deep impacts, from Governor Scott Walker’s proposed $300 million dollars in cuts to the UW System over the next two years.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank told members of the campus community Thursday afternoon, “There are almost surely going to be layoffs in many units across the university. I don’t see how we avoid that. I am very sorry about that.”

UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank urged Cross to include Darrell Bazzell, UW-Madison’s chief financial officer who’s experienced and respected at the state Capitol, on the System’s negotiating team. Cross said Tuesday that he heeded Blank’s suggestion, agreeing that Bazzell “has a good financial mind.”

After seeing tuition skyrocket after the public university system was given more autonomy, leaders are looking for a different strategy.

While Gov. Scott Walker is on a trade mission in London, his administration threw a curveball at University of Wisconsin System leaders upset by $300 million in proposed state budget cuts over the next two years.

It’s not a done deal that the University of Wisconsin System will have to find $300 million in cuts over the next two years if Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget stands in the Legislature.

Huebsch told reporters Tuesday the error is something that would have been found and corrected in the errata document that is compiled after the publication of every two-year budget.

A top official in Gov. Scott Walker’s administration defended the Republican governor’s budget proposal to cut $300 million from the University of Wisconsin System on Tuesday, saying that the System would soon have autonomy to deal with the funding reductions.

I am writing to thank you for your commitment to preserving the excellence and integrity of the University of Wisconsin System. As a native Wisconsinite, I have always felt tremendous pride that our humble, decent state has created and sustained one of the world’s premier institutions of higher learning and a state system that is the envy of the rest of the nation.

In a TV interview on “UpFront with Mike Gousha,” Cross said that the cuts proposed in Gov. Scott Walker’s budget could “seriously damage the whole system,” and that he doesn’t think they are inevitable.