A Wisconsin lawmaker is proposing to remove Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget cuts to two-year University of Wisconsin colleges by deflecting the burden onto the four-year institutions.

While all institutions in the UW System have been equally impacted by the budget cuts proposed in the biennial budget, two-year UW colleges face the greatest burden in terms of handling them, Rep. Romaine Quinn, R-Rice Lake, said. The two-year UW colleges currently face $6.5 million in cuts, he said.

“Don’t bleed the campuses out until they can’t even function,” Quinn said.

Quinn has proposed to alter the budget such that four-year UW institutions shoulder these cuts instead of the two-year colleges.

Noel Radomski, director of Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education, said these colleges are heavily dependent on state funding and student enrollment. He said the budget cuts, tuition freeze and recent decline in student enrollment in such institutions have reduced their funds to nothing. Moreover, the enrollment in such colleges is mainly only students from Wisconsin, he said.

“It’s a whole different world for them,” Radomski said.

Quinn said two-year colleges are a gateway to education for people from uneducated and poor backgrounds. Most four-year colleges such as UW-Madison have other means of income, such as generous alumni and research programs, which have made them more capable of handling the budget cuts, Quinn said.

Two-year colleges also depend on their respective county to fund and support them, Quinn said. If the state cuts the colleges’ budget, they will not have the credibility to demand support and investment from their counties. Quinn said his proposal demands the colleges should be allowed to spend at least as much as they did in the last budget, which will shield them from the cuts and allow them to operate.

“I just want to do whatever I can to make sure these campuses have the tools they need to continue delivering quality education and a price that the state and students can afford,” Quinn said.

UW System spokesperson Alex Hummel said UW System has been working closely with members of the Legislature to find ways to reduce the cuts. UW System President Ray Cross said in a recent statement he is hopeful about the success of these efforts.

Hummel said individual campuses are taking their own initiatives to address the budget cuts and find ways to minimize their effects on students’ experiences.

“We’re all trying to be part of the solution and we’ve all got a role to play,” Hummel said. “We’re just moving forward and keeping those conversations going.”

Radomski said Walker recently hinted at possible changes in the cuts depending on the state revenue. It could increase or decrease based on the state revenue numbers, which will be released early May, Radomski said.