A freshman Republican lawmaker from northwestern Wisconsin is working to spare the state’s two-year colleges from Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed cuts to the University of Wisconsin System.
State Rep. Romaine Quinn of Rice Lake said he isn’t opposed to the governor trimming the UW System, but he’s drawing a line when it comes to the 13 UW colleges across the state. Walker’s budget would cut the state’s two-year campuses by $6.5 million. UW-Barron County is in the heart of Quinn’s district and he said there’s no fat left to trim.
“All the arguments you hear about the big four years, whether it’s trimming salaries or talking about tenure, those solutions just aren’t applicable to these two-year schools and we need to recognize that,” Quinn said.
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Quinn will offer a budget motion to shift the $6.5 million in cuts from two-year campuses to the state’s four-year universities. A similar motion by Rep. Ed Brooks of Reedsburg would exempt UW-Extension from cuts.
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