Although a potential Wisconsin Technical College System and University of Wisconsin Colleges and Extension merger is not a new topic of discussion, Republican lawmakers generated criticism for meeting privately to discuss it.
The conversation occurred Aug. 11 and followed the $250 million cut to the UW System in the 2015-17 biennial budget. State Assembly Speaker Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, led the discussion, which did not generate any new legislation.
In an email to The Badger Herald, Michael Apple, a UW-Madison educational policy professor, said he fears lawmakers may make a quick decision without adequate public involvement in the conversation.
“I have substantial worries that the discussions would go forward with few public hearings and little legislative discussions — one of the unfortunate characteristics of the current Legislature,” Apple said.
The Wisconsin Technical College System includes the 16 public technical colleges in the state. The two-year technical colleges provide trade and vocation training for high school graduates.
Chancellor Cathy Sandeen oversees both UW Colleges and UW Extension, which are separate institutions. UW Colleges provide students with affordable education experiences while preparing them to pursue baccalaureate degrees. UW Extension works to overcome constraints created where Wisconsin citizens live and work in order to help them access higher education.
“The two separate defined missions of the UW Colleges and the Wisconsin Technical College System serve Wisconsin students well,” Sandeen said in an email to The Badger Herald.
Wisconsin State Technical Colleges operate on performance-based funding generated by taxpayer money in amounts determined by regional boards that work with a statewide governing board. UW Colleges is currently absorbing a $5 million cut from the biennial budget.
Rep. Katrina Shankland expressed concern regarding the merger because the systems are so different in not only their methods of education, but also their sources of funding.
“The Republican proposal to merge the UW Colleges and Technical Colleges could have serious consequences for the quality of higher education, future funding and people’s livelihoods,” Shankland said in an email to The Badger Herald. “These are two separate systems with different missions and funding sources.”
Apple said choosing to pursue financial gains for the state would end with educational losses for students if the merger occurs.
“The policy could thus change what counts as important knowledge to only that which is immediately economically useful,” Apple said. “Job skills, short term economic interests, would become the calculus.”
The two systems have successfully collaborated many times in recent years, but a complete merger between the two systems could potentially bring about “serious consequences” for the livelihoods of the students, Shankland said.
UW spokesperson Alex Hummel said the UW System is interested in the potential financial savings a merger could generate, but would not want savings to come before the quality of the student experience.
“I think ultimately what all the partners that would be involved in this conversation really want to focus on is how this would impact the education for students, how it would effect things like quality of programs and what kinds of degrees and other costs for students — a lot of those things that are a part of why we are here, for student education,” Hummel said.
