A well-known Republican state legislator and possible 2018 Senate candidate expressed opposition to Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to cut tuition across the UW System, instead suggesting tuition increases.
Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, wrote in an article posted on Right Wisconsin last week that Walker’s proposal is “not economically sound.”
“The governor’s proposal to cut tuition either creates a funding shortfall within the UW System or would require the UW System’s budget be backfilled with more general fund revenue (GPR),” Kooyenga wrote. “Such a transfer of money means that Wisconsin’s hard-working men and women, most of whom do not have a college degree, will have to pay higher taxes as a result.”
Kooyenga recommended the state instead allow the UW System or individual schools to raise tuition to the level dictated by inflation or the increase in Wisconsin median household income, whichever is less.
Walker wrote his own article in Right Wisconsin Monday defending his plan, which dictates a 5 percent tuition cut for all in-state students in the UW System.
“Some have suggested this puts Wisconsin on the road to a Bernie Sanders-style ‘free college’ policy. That is ridiculous,” Walker wrote in the article. “What we are doing is reversing years of irresponsible and unnecessary cost increases in higher education.”
Walker also called the plan “great for taxpayers,” citing a $549 million total tax cut in his 2017-’19 biennial budget proposal.
Kooyenga and the 15 other members of the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee will review and amend the budget over the coming months.
Kooyenga is considered one of the top potential Republican contenders to challenge Sen. Tammy Baldwin in 2018.
