Scott Walker's budget to cut technical school funding by 30%

[Hannah Bell]

Among the victims of the Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s budget proposal will be technical colleges, which stand to have their state funding cut by 30 percent.

Over the past decade, enrollment in the state’s technical college system has grown by 40 percent, to over 400,000 students, as the economic crisis and chronic unemployment have compelled people to seek higher education in an effort to make themselves more employable. “High unemployment is definitely one of the driving forces in the growth of enrollment at technical colleges,” said Jacob Weigandt, president of the Madison Area Technical College Student Senate.

Last week, Walker announced his 2012-2013 budget proposal, which includes a nine percent cut in state aid to public education, totaling $900 million. The proposal would cut funding for community colleges to its lowest level since the 1980s.

Joe Connolly is a typical student at Madison Area Technical College. He was a real estate loan officer for 13 years, but when the bottom fell out of the housing market, he found himself out of work. “Yeah, I’m a 99er,” he said... "I am 46 years old and find myself starting a second career.” He has enrolled in the dental technician program at the college....Connolly had nothing but contempt for Walker’s budget. “Scott Walker wants to say the budget is broken, but he’s the one who broke it. During his first week in office, he gave a $140 million tax cut to the wealthiest businesses. Then he says the state is bankrupt.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/comu-m09.shtml