Even the Legislature’s most vocal critic of the University of Wisconsin praised Gov. Jim Doyle’s plan for a “Wisconsin Covenant” to give eighth-graders a state-funded college education if they maintain a B average in high school and stay out of trouble.
“I think there is some merit in the covenant,” said Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, “but it clashes with the UW admissions proposal that would lessen academic requirements.”
Moreover, proposals in the governor’s State of the State speech Tuesday to increase graduates in fields such as nursing and engineering will depend on the money available in a budget faced with a $1.6 billion deficit, said Nass, who chairs the Assembly’s Colleges and Universities Committee.