Today, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker released more information about his proposal to improve the state’s workforce development system through an additional $100 million in state appropriations. These proposals have the potential to affect the priorities of Wisconsin institutions of higher education, particularly the Wisconsin Technical College System. While most of the key points of the proposal are directly from his special workforce development commission’s report last August (see my analyses here and here), the additional details provided in this press release provide more concrete information about the Governor’s soon-to-be-released budget proposal.
Three items in Gov. Walker’s proposal are in legislation separate from the state budget: workforce training grants to a mix of colleges, businesses and economic development organizations, a new Office of Skills Development to administer the grants, and a labor market information system designed to help link students and workers to available jobs and track labor market trends. The labor market information system has the potential to provide high school and college students with information that can help them decide their course of study, but getting the information to students in a timely manner may be difficult. It can be a useful tool for high school juniors who want to figure out a possible career, but it may be four or five years before the student is ready to go into the workforce. A lot can happen in that period of time. In any case, these records should be linked to K-12 and higher education datasets so the effectiveness of the new system can be evaluated.
The big change in higher education policy comes from the proposed shift to performance-based funding (PBF) in the Wisconsin Technical College System. Under PBF, colleges are funded based on outcomes (such as graduation and job placement rates) instead of based on enrollment or other historical factors. This plan starts with 10% of base funding being used for PBF in 2014-15, rising to 100% by 2020. Although other states have similar plans to completely shift to PBF, I am skeptical that a majority of funding will ever be tied to performance for political reasons. (Note that if Gov. Walker serves a second term and declines to run for a third, he would leave office in January of 2019—before this takes effect.)
Few details are currently available about the proposed funding formula for WTCS, as it will be developed by WTCS and the state Department of Administration. But the press release does note that the formula will prioritize job placement and enrollment in high-demand programs, something which is likely to be opposed by WTCS campuses with strong university transfer programs (such as Madison Area Technical College). These concerns will likely be kept in mind as a PBF system is developed.
Finally, the press release calls for the development of a common core of 30 credits (approximately ten courses) that will be fully transferrable across the UW System, WTCS, and participating Wisconsin private colleges. This will likely be opposed by a number of UW System universities as a loss of autonomy and a perceived lowering of academic standards. I would expect the common core to be mandated, but some colleges will attempt to deny full transferability of certain courses; for example, a college algebra class at a technical college might be classified as an elective math credit at a UW System university instead of as a college algebra class.
Governor Walker’s budget address will take place on February 20, and I will have a complete analysis of his higher education programs later this week. More details may be released before that time, such as in this unusual Sunday press release.
Robert Kelchen 
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