Today's Journal has a news item relating to some complaints that some people have, suggesting that more money is needed for the Wisconsin Covenant:

A new policy brief from the higher education research center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison says Gov. Jim Doyle's Wisconsin Covenant program needs to commit public funds to pay for four years of financial aid for low-income students to make a significant improvement in the enrollment of underrepresented students.

The program guarantees a spot in college for students who maintain good grades and take the right classes in high school, but it doesn't promise automatic funding for college costs.

The Covenant Scholars program and the privately-sponsored Fund for Wisconsin Scholars will use their combined $215 million to offer scholarships that complement the Covenant pledge, but that's not enough to cover all the Covenant Scholars' full need, according to the center.
...
The Covenant, introduced in 2006, aimed to increase college participation rates, especially among underrepresented groups. Under the program, Wisconsin eighth-graders sign a pledge promising to maintain a B average and take college-prep courses. If they follow through, they are guaranteed a spot after graduation in one of the state's colleges or universities - although perhaps not their first choice - along with a financial aid package based on need.

Some have questioned the program's effectiveness because students with a B average already are likely to be admitted to most colleges in Wisconsin.

Plus, Covenant Scholars must apply for federal and state financial aid, just as non-Scholars would. Current financial aid packages for low-income students fall thousands short of the cost of education in the UW System, even after the family's expected contribution.

As soon as I saw this, I tried to remember if I actually ever saw a bill in the legislature that passed regarding the Covenant.  I remember a big splash when Doyle proposed it, and I even remember some controversy when Doyle launched a website allowing kids to sign up before anything passed the legislature... but I don't remember it ever passing.

In fact, from the reading around I was able to find, it seems really that the Wisconsin Covenant never did pass (and if did, please someone point me to the story saying such), and that its simply a "public/private partnership" which is parading around as an official state sanctioned program.  The Journal article suggests that we need more state money for the program, but if it's getting any state money then it is completely illegal if it never passed the legislature.

Let's get one thing straight here.  Gov. Doyle (or any governor or president) may not just create a program out of thin air, fund it, and hype it merely because he thinks its a good idea. That's not how a representative government works.  In fact, I would say that even the Covenant website, which has a wi.gov domain is illegal, since that should only be used for official state programs, of which this seems to not be.

This type of executive action was illegal when Bush did it for the auto bailout, and it was illegal when Doyle did it for this.  If it didn't pass the legislature, then it didn't happen.  Period.

Update: Thanks to Noel from UW Madison for finding this link, which actually does show that it was slipped into a budget agreement a few months after Doyle started acting like it had already passed.  Of course, the whole program is still a sham, in that its pretty much still an unfunded promise to 8th graders, but at least the administration for that unfunded promise is legal.