UW pushes back against teaching language in state budget

MADISON, Wis — University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty members are pushing back against Republican lawmakers’ decision to re-insert language in the state budget calling for tracking professors’ teaching loads.

Gov. Scott Walker’s budget called for tying state aid to instructional hours and the regents to develop policies to monitor every instructor’s teaching load and reward instructors who teach more than the standard workload.

The Legislature’s finance removed the language in April but reinserted the tracking provisions as part of a broad wrap-up motion on the budget Wednesday.

UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank says the tracking requirements don’t take into account research and outreach efforts. David Vanness is president of the American Association of University Professors’ UW-Madison chapter. He says Republicans will use the data to make professors look lazy.

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