Gov. Walker Sticks Middle Class, Schools and Students With Tab for His Fiscal Mismanagement

MADISON, Wis. — Among the most egregious provisions of the budget plan for the 2015-17 biennium announced by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker this evening are record cuts to the University of Wisconsin System coupled with a proposal to allow for unlimited tuition hikes after 2016.

Walker’s higher education budget is a recipe for more even more student loan debt for a nation that already has 40 million Americans who worked hard for their education or job training and took on the personal responsibility to pay for it with $1.2 trillion in student loan debt.

The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross:

“The bill has come due for Gov. Walker’s giveaways to the wealthy and corporations, and it’s the middle class, schools and hard working students getting stuck with the tab.

“Gov. Walker has handed out billions in tax giveaways over the last four years and has even found $220 million for a new sports arena in this budget.

“But it’s Wisconsin students and their families that pay for his reckless mismanagement with record cuts to the University of Wisconsin System and unlimited tuition hikes after 2016.

“Unless Gov. Walker’s budget scheme is stopped fewer Wisconsin students will be able to attend the UW school of their choice, it will take longer for students to graduate and more students will be forced to borrow more.

“Gov. Walker’s budget is a recipe for failure, not revival.”