Lawmakers advance bill requiring Universities of Wisconsin to admit all top-performing high schoolers

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The University of Wisconsin-Madison would be required to admit all high school students who finish in the top 5% of their class, and other campuses would have to admit those in the top 10%, under a bill passed Tuesday by the state Senate that's part of a deal reached between the Legislature and university.

Wisconsin state capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin.  (Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The deal struck in December also limits diversity positions at the system’s two dozen campuses in exchange for money to cover staff raises and construction projects. A legislative committee gave final approval for the pay raises in December, and now a series of bills are working their way through the Legislature enacting other parts of the deal.

The university said in a statement that it supported the guaranteed admission proposal "because it will help encourage the top students in Wisconsin to remain in-state for their postsecondary education, and will encourage more of these students to remain here after graduation."

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The Senate passed the bill 23-9. It now heads to the Assembly.