Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin got a big victory Wednesday when Democrat Gov. Tony Evers signed the state budget into law that that defunds the state university's diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
The budget proposal Republicans sent to Evers included a $32 million cut to the state university system to force the school officials to eliminate DEI offices and programming and called for 188 DEI positions to be eliminated, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
Evers, who has powers of a line-item veto on everything but funding cuts, vetoed the plan to eliminate the DEI positions. Republicans put a provision in the budget allows the university school system to earn the $32 million back for efforts addressing the state's workforce shortages.
But the funding can only be made available if the state university school system requests it and the GOP-controlled finance committee signs off on it.
"I do believe that [the university school system] will come up with a plan to get that $32 million," Evers said, according to the State Journal.
Texas and Florida are among the states this year that have implemented laws to prohibit funding to public institutions that promote DEI initiatives. Ohio and Oklahoma are among other red states working on DEI legislation.
Conservatives believe DEI offices are staffed by left-wing ideologues who pursue divisive political ends with taxpayer money instead of education outcomes.
"For people on the left, DEI has become their new religion," Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, told The Associated Press in June. "They no longer go to church on Sunday, but boy, are they trying to make sure everybody is evangelized on campus, that's there only one acceptable viewpoint.
"That's not what I think taxpayers should be funding."
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