State businesses may have more of an incentive to pay for a student’s tuition after the state Assembly passed a bill Thursday giving tax credits to such companies.
The bill would give a tax credit equal to 25 percent of the tuition paid by the company if the student is eligible for a federal Pell Grant, or 30 percent of the tuition paid if the student is enrolled in a program relating to a “projected worker shortage in the state” and is also eligible for a Pell Grant.
Under the bill, a variety of grants would also be awarded to develop educational and development programs through University of Wisconsin System.
UW System’s Board of Regents would be directed to give a $250,000 grant to the WiSys Technology Foundation, which promotes technological innovations developed in the UW System.
The grants would be used for the Wisconsin Small Company Advancement Program to encourage intellectual property management.
There could be a maximum of eight of these grants given.
The board would also be given $125,000 every year to develop a business plan competition program to give students access to business development information and encourage entrepreneurialism.
The program, which would apply to every school except UW, would be connected to business-plan contests on UW System campuses and national business organizations.
The board would not be able to spend any of the funding unless it is matched by private donors.
The bill passed 80-9, with heated partisan attacks before the vote.
According to Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, the bill would cost the state $10 million, however he sees this as a fair trade-off for the benefits it will incur.
“Our number one goal is to make sure we have job creation in this state and if it costs $10 million to get people back to work in this dire economy, that is more than a bargain,” he said.
Assembly Minority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, took issue with Pocan’s claim that Democrats work to create jobs, as 240,000 private sector jobs have been lost while the Legislature has been under Democratic control.
“You can try to play the spin game, but you know the public knows what’s going on,” Fitzgerald said. “If you want to take this job agenda that you have and try to run on it, go ahead. Nobody’s buying it.”
UW System spokesperson David Giroux said the system is very supportive of the bill and that the bill fits nicely with its Growth Agenda.
The system wants to expand research opportunities at all UW System campuses in addition to UW.
“Our growth agenda also includes a focus on creating more jobs and the best way…is through research and development,” Giroux said. “Several other four-year campuses, we think they could do for their regions of the state what UW has done for Dane County and Southcentral Wisconsin.”
Under the bill, the Wisconsin Technical College System Board would also be given an additional $500,000 annually to distribute to technical college district boards for training in advanced manufacturing skills. Currently the WTSB is required to award $100,000,000 for this training.
The bill will now head to the Senate for approval.
