UW System schools now know the 16 metrics they will be graded on as the state looks to dish out $26.25 million in new state funding after a Board of Regents meeting Thursday.
This money will specifically go to schools who perform well under the categories chosen by the regents, which rewards institutions that have a good enrollment, time-to-degree and a high number of graduates studying in STEM and health-related fields among other metrics.
Back in February, Gov. Scott Walker’s original budget proposal included performance-based metrics as a system for funding the UW schools, with institutions that improve more in each area receiving a larger chunk of funding.
In September, when Walker made vetoes on the state’s 2017-'19 state budget, he nixed a provision allowing campuses to choose their own performance areas. In his veto message in brief, Walker said allowing institutions to pick their own metrics is “likely to result in funding allocations based upon metrics that are easiest for institutions to improve upon or maintain.”
The provision was met with skepticism from some, including UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank, who said it “pitted schools against one another.”
“I have no problems with accountability requirements,” Blank said in an April statement. “Indeed, the entire UW System already reports on a series of accountability measures that can be found here. But the devil is in the details when you start trying to figure out how to tie the distribution of dollars to these metrics.”
The body still has to come up with a formula for weighing the metrics and dollar amounts which is due to the state Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee by mid-February.
