Dive Brief:
- Wisconsin Republicans have backed away from a proposal to make the state university system a separate government authority, which would have moved its management out from under the state.
- The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports the budget committee plans to get rid of several state mandates, giving institutions more flexibility to respond to proposed cuts but stopping short of giving total governance control.
- Gov. Scott Walker proposed $300 million in higher education cuts in the two-year budget and Republican leaders have said they want to bring that number down — but so far they don’t know by how much, according to the article.
Dive Insight:
Leaders in the University of Wisconsin system have been asking for more autonomy for years. Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal was supposed to come with budget cuts as a tradeoff — more autonomy and control for the system, but less money. Now it appears the cuts will come largely on their own. One student newspaper reports that Republicans shied away from the proposal because they feared giving the UW system too much power. Freedom from certain state mandates will provide some flexibility for the system, but administrators now are pushing hard for lower cuts before the final budget goes up for a vote.