Republicans pass bill barring race-based criteria for UW financial aid, setting up likely Evers veto

MADISON - Assembly Republicans have voted to bar University of Wisconsin system officials from considering race when deciding how to distribute publicly funded financial aid to students, setting up a likely veto by Gov. Tony Evers.

The bill, which passed 62-35 along party lines Tuesday, seeks to eliminate race-based criteria for college scholarships, grants and loan programs.

Bill authors Rep. Nik Rettinger, R-Mukwonago, and Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Green Bay, argue race-based financial aid programs funded with state money should be open to all students with financial need.

In a co-sponsorship memo to colleagues seeking support, Rettinger and Wimberger said they "want to be sure that (low-income students) have just as much opportunity to attend college as any other student."

The bill comes after the U.S. Supreme Court restricted the use of race in college admissions decisions. The ruling said nothing about scholarships but some states and institutions have broadly interpreted the decision to cover financial aid programs, too.

Democratic Rep. LaKeshia Myers of Milwaukee said the bill was a solution in search of a problem.

“This is about access, equity and opportunity," Myers said. "And no, equity is not a dirty word."

If the bill advances in the Republican-controlled Senate Evers is likely to veto the bill.

"Gov. Evers has full confidence that the UW and other state agencies are perfectly capable of adhering to U.S. Supreme Court decisions without the unsolicited help of Republicans in the Legislature who’ve shown they neither understand nor appreciate higher education in Wisconsin," Evers spokeswoman Britt Cudaback said in a statement in October.

The bill calls for opening eligibility of minority undergraduate retention grants to all students with financial need.

Currently, the grants provide scholarships ranging from $250 to $2,500 to Black, Native American, Hispanic or southeast Asian students to attend technical colleges, private nonprofit colleges and tribal colleges. A similar program exists for students of color attending University of Wisconsin system schools.

Students of color are more likely to drop out and less likely to graduate than their white peers, according to UW system data and a host of research studies.

The bill would also prevent the state Technical College System from awarding grants to technical colleges for purposes specific to helping students of color, such as counseling, tutoring services or internship programs. The grants could be awarded if programs benefit all low-income students.

Eligibility of the minority teacher loan program would expand to all low-income students, under the bill. The program currently allows students of color to receive loans of up to $10,000 annually for no more than three years. The state forgives a quarter of the loan every year the student works as a teacher in a discipline with teacher shortages and at a school where at least 40% of students are students of color.

The bill also calls for striking minority enrollment expectations for the Medical College of Wisconsin and Marquette University School of Dentistry. Currently, both institutions receive some state funding on the condition they "make every effort" to have at least 5% of their total enrollment be students of color.

More broadly, the bill would modify laws requiring the University of Wisconsin system and state Technical College System to develop plans on recruitment and retention of students of color to focus on all low-income students.

Kelly Meyerhofer of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Republicans pass bill barring race-based criteria for UW financial aid