MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – The University of Wisconsin System would lose $250 million in state funding under a proposed budget change to be endorsed by majority Republicans.
The Joint Finance Committee’s GOP members said they would reduce Governor Scott Walker’s proposed $300 million cut Friday — and the UW would give out the other $50 million to schools deemed hardest hit by the cuts.
A number of four-year campuses have announced early retirement initiatives to cut down their labor costs. And the centralizing of services among the 13 two-year colleges resulted in a faculty referendum on whether they should consider a no-confidence vote for their new chancellor.
The GOP finance members also said they would go with Walker’s proposed tuition freeze for two more years. And the Republicans said they would reject Walker’s plan to give the UW more independence from state rules, for fear the university would jack up tuition too much in future years.
The Republican Walker later said he would seek tuition increases limited to the rate of inflation starting in 2017.
Earlier Friday, the GOP said it would reject a cutoff of borrowing for nature land purchases under the Stewardship Program — but it would limit bonding to $33 million a year through 2020, down from the current $50 million.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
