Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says the state doesn’t need to increase the University of Wisconsin System’s budget just to offset recent budget cuts.
The UW System asked Gov. Scott Walker for a $42.5 million increase in state funding in the 2017-19 budget after the last budget cut $250 million from the System.
Walker, who will likely introduce his budget next month, has said he doesn’t want to cut funding from the System this year, but that’s not to say Republican state senators feel the same way. Fitzgerald said the System’s budget needs a fresh look.
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“I don’t buy into the idea that because there was a significant reduction in the amount of state aid that was moved to the UW System that suddenly there needs to be a knee-jerk and let’s bring that all back,” Fitzgerald said. “I don’t feel that way, and I don’t think that reflects the thoughts of my caucus when it comes to the UW System.”
State budget cuts have become the norm for the System and its four-year universities and two-year colleges. Five of the last six budgets have cut the system’s state funding.
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