Category: UW

Legislative Fiscal Bureau UW System Budget Papers

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The Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to vote on motions relating to the University of Wisconsin System this week. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau has prepared budget papers with possible alternatives to those offered by Governor Scott Walker in his budget proposal:

The committee may decide to forego individual motions and instead vote on a single omnibus motion, as it did with K-12 last week.

Joint Finance Committee to meet Tuesday and Thursday

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Joint Finance Committee Hearing RoomThe Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee will meet Tuesday and Thursday this week in Room 412 East in the State Capitol. Livestream coverage is available on WisconsinEye.

Executive action will be taken on the following topics:

Tuesday

  • Higher Educational Aids Board
  • Educational Communications Board
  • Office of State Employment Relations
  • Department of Health Services — Institutions and Mental Health
  • Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
  • Environmental Improvement Fund

Thursday

  • Department of Administration — Hearings and Appeals
  • Department of Administration — Information Technology
  • Investment Board
  • Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board
  • Department of Children and Families — Departmentwide
  • Department of Children and Families — Children and Families
  • Department of Children and Families — Economic Support and Child Care
  • Department of Children and Families — Child Support
  • Shared Revenue and Tax Relief — Direct Aid Payments
  • Shared Revenue and Tax Relief — Property Taxation
  • Shared Revenue and Tax Relief — Property Tax Credits
  • Shared Revenue and Tax Relief — Local Revenue Options

Legislative leaders said recently they do not expect to consider motions relating to the University of Wisconsin System until the last week of May. PROFS continues to meet with legislators to advocate for the best possible budget for UW-Madison and its faculty.

Chancellor Blank: Public Research Universities are Centers of American Innovation and Education

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Chancellor Rebecca Blank offers her view on public research universities and their role in Tuesday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Blank writes that top public research universities like the University of Wisconsin-Madison play an important role in keeping the United States at the forefront of the global economy by educating the majority of skilled workers. At the same time, public research universities conduct basic research that is essential to future innovations:

“The importance of research universities in educating top scientists, engineers and doctors is well understood. But the second part of our mission is equally important and often forgotten or misconstrued. Those who criticize our faculty for not teaching enough fail to recognize that teaching is only half their work.

At a research university, faculty are expected to actively engage in producing and publishing research results. And most faculty are expected to raise the money needed to support their work by writing proposals to federal agencies, foundations and private industry.”

Blank acknowledges that funding for research has slowed in recent years, with potentially devastating consequences as other nations increase their research funding.

“This nation’s public research universities are centers of American innovation and education. Maintaining these institutions and maintaining strong federal funding for their research on big, complex and important problems is critical to keeping this nation competitive in today’s global economy.”

The full article is here.

PolitiFact on UW-Madison Faculty Research Dollars

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PolitiFact Wisconsin recently examined Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca’s statement that the average UW-Madison faculty member brings in almost $250,000 in grant money each year. Barca made the statement in an interview with WisconsinEye on March 12, saying Governor Scott Walker’s proposed $300 million budget cut to UW System could harm faculty research on campus.

PolitiFact found Barca’s statement to be “mostly true.” UW-Madison’s Data Digest shows that in 2012-13, 59 percent of faculty brought in more than $525 million in external grants, which averages $242,000 per faculty member.

March 25 State Budget Forum

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EducBldg_extr_doors10_7628PROFS will host a forum to discuss the 2015-17 state budget at 3:30 pm on Wednesday, March 25 in the Wisconsin Idea Room in the Education Building, 1000 Bascom Mall. This event is free and open to the public.

State Representative Chris Taylor (D-Madison), former Department of Administration (Thompson and McCallum) Secretary George Lightbourn, and Associate Vice Chancellor for Government and Corporate Affairs Charles Hoslet will share their expertise and take questions.

Questions at the forum include:

  • What is the likelihood public authority will remain in the budget?
  • What flexibilities can the university expect if public authority is removed?
  • Will the $300 million budget cut be reduced? If so, by how much?
  • How will tenure and shared governance look in Board of Regent policy?
  • What is the timeline for the budget and how can the budget change?

Legislative Fiscal Bureau budget papers can be found here once they are published.