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Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Anti-Education State Republicans Exposed for Massive Cuts to UW, but will Voters hold them Accountable?

The national reputation of the University of Wisconsin is of little concern to state Republicans. Despite its massive contributions as a revenue source and job creator, Republicans were determined to turn it into nothing more than a tech college for business interests, and a breeding ground for ultra right-wing politics pushing supply-side economics, nationalism, and research backing extremist public policy proposals.

Since Wisconsin residents will most likely have a child going to the UW, Republican attempts to sabotage the university just got exposed, with the kind of headline they never saw coming:

The analysis by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, or SHEEO, looked at higher education finances since the Great Recession.
1. Report: Wisconsin Saw Fourth Largest Decline In Higher Ed Funding Between 2013 And 2018

2. While (other) States Support For Higher Education Increased 15 Percent, Post Recession Wisconsin Continued To Cut ... Wisconsin’s state funding for higher education did not follow the national trend.
3. A national report ranking ... Wisconsin saw the fourth largest decline in per-student spending between 2013 and 2018. The only states with larger decreases in that timeframe were Mississippi, West Virginia and Oklahoma.

4. Educational appropriations fell ... But between 2013 and 2018 the report showed the trend reversing in a majority of states, with the United States as a whole seeing more than a 15 percent increase in state funds per student. 

5. The SHEEO found between 2013 and 2018 state appropriations per student fell by just more than 8 percent, from $7,002 to $6,435, putting it toward the bottom of the national rankings.

6. The state Legislature included $35 million in new funding for the UW System in the 2017-19 biennial state budget ... That followed a cut of $250 million in the 2015-17 biennial budget.
All of this might just change, but don't hold your breath:
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has proposed a $150 million increase for the state’s UW campuses in his proposed 2019-21 state budget, along with a $2.5 billion capital budget for new construction and renovations.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousApril 17, 2019 at 10:26 AM

    Governor Evers' budget proposal would increase total UW System funding by 2.6% in the first year and 0.3% in the second. Meanwhile, the Survey of Professional Forecasters is estimating 2.3% inflation per year for the period. By my calculations, that works out to a 1.75% cut in real funding (i.e. after correcting for inflation). This is certainly less bad than the Walker years, but forgive me for not celebrating. And we'll see if the legislature will go along with even this much.

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