Illinois, Wisconsin Governors Propose Deep Spending Cuts To Universities

If proposals by two Republican governors are approved, public universities in Illinois and Wisconsin could soon experience sweeping layoffs, program eliminations and possible campus closures.

This month, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) unveiled budgets with deep spending cuts for public universities. Rauner’s proposed 2016 budget contains a 31.5 percent, or $387 million, reduction in funding for public universities. Wisconsin’s 2015-2017 budget would shrink state funding by 13 percent, or $300 million over two years, the largest reduction in the state’s history.

The steep cuts are perplexing to some school officials because the improving economy has helped public universities in other states recover some of the funds they lost during the recession. Over the past decade, lawmakers from both parties significantly reduced public university spending across the country.

Tuition increases aren’t on the table in either state, meaning universities would have to make up the difference through layoffs and cuts to programs on campus. Walker’s budget requires a tuition freeze for all public state universities in addition to mandatory spending cuts. According to Illinois Board of Higher Education Executive Director Dr. James L. Applegate, his state’s universities aren’t expected to raise tuition either. The University of Illinois system instituted a tuition freeze a month before the governor unveiled his budget.

Some university advocates believe those statistics are misleading. Radomski said that in 2003, the $3.2 billion deficit that Doyle inherited made cuts necessary.

“The economy is on the upswing, we had a surplus, and then [Walker] decided to do a tax cut,” Radomski said, referring to a bill the governor recently signed. “I think the difference there is this fiscal economic environment is much better than it was then.”

Illinois public university officials plan to lobby the Democrat-controlled state legislature to scale back the governor’s proposed cuts. Democrats in both states have already vowed to oppose the plans, and some Republican legislators have said the cuts to universities are too extreme.

The Huffington Post