A debate in Wisconsin over the possibility of merging a two-year state institution with a two-year technical college highlights questions of realignment faced by public college systems across the country. Local government leaders in Washington County, in the eastern part of the state, decided to act as they watched enrollment drop at the local UW-Milwaukee branch campus from nearly 1,100 at its peak more than a decade ago to about 300 today. The county executive assembled a task force to explore options and it recommended putting UW-Milwaukee at Washington County under the governance of Moraine Park Technical College, a nearby vocational school that is not part of the UW System. The state legislature approved the measure, but things came to a halt last week when Governor Tony Evers vetoed the proposal.
