Category: PROFS

Joint Finance to Discuss UW System Friday, May 29

Joint Finance Committee Hearing RoomThe Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to meet at 10 am tomorrow, Friday, May 29 in Room 412 East in the State Capitol.

Livestream coverage is available on WisconsinEye. Links to Legislative Fiscal Bureau budget papers are here.

First on the agenda is the University of Wisconsin System. The committee must decide if they will adopt Governor Scott Walker’s proposal to slash UW System funding by $300 million over the biennium. Legislative leaders have already said they oppose transforming UW System into a public authority.

Other UW System items on the agenda:

The committee will also discuss the Departments of Natural Resources, Transportation and Revenue and consider changes to sales and income taxes. Funding for the Milwaukee Bucks arena in Milwaukee rounds out the agenda.

PROFS is carefully monitoring the UW System budget discussion and continues to lobby members of the Joint Finance Committee for the best possible budget for the university and its faculty.

Follow PROFS on Twitter and Facebook for the latest information.

 

Joint Finance Committee to Meet Wednesday, May 27

The Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow, Wednesday, May 27 in Room 412 East in the State Capitol. Livestream coverage is available on WisconsinEye. Links to Legislative Fiscal Bureau budget papers are here.

Executive action will be taken on the following topics:

Blood Withdrawals — Intoxicated and Reckless Flying Violations
Building Commission
Building Program
Program Supplements
Department of Administration
Department of Tourism
Department of Workforce Development — Worker’s Compensation and Unemployment Insurance
Department of Health Services — Long-Term Care Services

PROFS continues to lobby for the inclusion of the Chemistry Building project which may come up tomorrow as part of the State Building Commission/Building Program discussion.

 

Joint Finance Committee to Meet Today and Thursday

Joint Finance hearing roomThe Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee will meet today and Thursday in Room 412 East in the State Capitol. Livestream coverage is available on WisconsinEye. Links to Legislative Fiscal Bureau budget papers are here.

Joint Finance Committee Co-chairs Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and Representative John Nygren (R-Marinette) announced Monday the committee would postpone action on the Department of Transportation and instead take up Medical Assistance Thursday. Action on the University of Wisconsin System is expected sometime next week.

PROFS continues to meet with legislative leaders, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), to explain why the current budget proposal is bad for the university, bad for students, and bad for the Wisconsin economy.

Executive action will be taken on the following topics this week:

Tuesday

  • Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority
  • Medical College of Wisconsin
  • Budget Management and Compensation Reserves
  • Department of Employee Trust Funds
  • Drug Screening and Testing
  • Department of Corrections
  • Department of Public Instruction

Thursday

  • Government Accountability Board
  • Department of Financial Institutions and Professional Standards
  • Department of Financial Institutions
  • Department of Safety and Professional Services
  • Forward Wisconsin Development Authority/Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC)
  • Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority
  • Department of Health Services, including Medical Assistance

 

Joint Finance Committee to meet Tuesday and Thursday

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.

Legislative Update

Capitol_tulips94_10State Budget Update

The 2015-17 biennial budget process continues. The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee began meeting in executive session last month, but has yet to consider motions relating to the University of Wisconsin System.

Committee leaders have said they would like to conclude its work by the end of May, with the budget bill then moving to Senate and Assembly for their consideration. The entire process is expected to conclude in late June.

Public authority out of budget  Representative John Nygren (R-Marinette) and Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) announced today that the public authority plan for the University of Wisconsin System was dead and the committee would instead consider granting the university greater budget and management flexibilities.

Meetings with legislators  PROFS continues to meet with key legislators and lobby on behalf of faculty, focusing on senate resolutions on state budget cuts and shared governance and funding for the Chemistry Building project. Members of the PROFS steering committee have met with more than a dozen legislators and staff since the beginning of the year.

Size of budget cuts While some legislative leaders have expressed a desire to lessen the size of the cut to UW System, both Governor Scott Walker and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said revenue estimates expected later this week are likely to be lower than hoped and the first priority is K-12 education.

Fitzgerald also said he had less of a commitment to decrease the cut after the Board of Regents approved tuition increases on out-of-state and professional students earlier this month. Despite the unpopularity of the proposed cut — one poll found seventy percent of the state opposed — Fitzgerald said some legislators still have a “bitter taste in their mouths” after the budget surplus issue of the last biennium.

Tuition Freeze Governor Walker said in his budget errata message last month he intends to limit tuition increases to no more than the annual change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) after a two-year freeze. UW System President Ray Cross said tying tuition increases to CPI “is not compatible with the agile, market-driven, and competitive entity the state needs us to be.”

Many higher education experts believe the plan to be unworkable: “Because the costs associated with running universities naturally exceed the costs of basic goods and services as represented in the CPI, limiting tuition increases to increases in the CPI is the wrong yard stick to use and is also very likely to reduce the ability of Wisconsin universities to offer the same quality as they have in the past,” said Professor Michael McLendon of Southern Methodist University.

Board of Regents

The UW System Board of Regents does not have a May meeting scheduled, but will meet in Milwaukee on June 4 and 5. Governor Scott Walker is expected to name three new regents this month as Regent President Michael Falbo, Regent David Walsh and traditional student Regent Anicka Purath complete their terms.

Three UW-Madison faculty members will serve on Regent task forces on shared governance and tenure – Biomedical Engineering Professor Beth Meyerand is a member of the shared governance task force, while Kinesiology Professor Dorothy Farrar-Edwards and Plant Pathology Professor Patricia McManus will serve on the tenure task force.

 

Petty on Faculty Workload

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Grant Petty

PROFS President Grant Petty was asked by WKOW-TV to comment on Governor Scott Walker’s recent remarks about looming budget cuts and the role faculty workload could play as a result. Petty told WKOW that an increase of one course per professor would likely result in a diminished educational experience for students.

 

WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and Sports

 

PROFS to Present Annual Report to Faculty Senate Today

winter capitolPROFS president Grant Petty will present the PROFS Annual Report for 2013-14 to the Faculty Senate today, Monday, December 1. The senate meets in Room 272 Bascom Hall at 3:30 pm. A full agenda of the meeting is here.

Faculty senators and visitors are invited to join PROFS for refreshments in the rotunda area outside Room 272 Bascom Hall beginning at 3 pm today.

PROFS Welcomes New President Grant Petty

Grant Petty

Grant Petty

PROFS welcomes Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS) Professor Grant Petty as president and offers many thanks to Agronomy Professor Bill Tracy for his hard work as president the past three years. Tracy remains a member of the steering committee.

Petty, chair of AOS,  is currently serving his third and final year as a member of the University Committee, the PROFS Board of Directors. He joined the faculty in 2000 and became a member of the PROFS Steering Committee in 2012. Two years ago Petty’s thoughts on public higher education were featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Chancellor Blank on the 2015-17 State Biennial Budget

Chancellor Rebecca Blank offers her perspective on Wisconsin’s upcoming 2015-17 biennial budget process in her most recent Blank’s Slate blog post.

Blank writes the budget will be the primary focus of the governor and legislators in January, and UW-Madison should prepare itself for the possibility of continued cuts. The state is on track to end the year with an almost $1 billion structural deficit, and the university must compete with other high-need funding areas for limited state resources. Because the budget process is lengthy — it often stretches into June or July — the chancellor has asked deans and directors to model cuts of 2, 4, and 6 percent.

The chancellor plans to coordinate efforts with PROFS and ASPRO, the Academic Staff Professionals Organization, and will reach out to alumni and members of the business community as she makes the case for increased funding for UW-Madison with legislators.

Shared Governance Reception

sift_winnow_arch06_0292UW-Madison will host its first-ever shared governance reception for faculty and staff tomorrow, Tuesday, October 7 from 3 to 5 pm in the Sonata Room of the Gordon Event Center, 770 West Dayton Street. Chancellor Rebecca Blank will deliver remarks at 3:30 pm.

Unlike some universities, shared governance at UW System institutions is codified in Wisconsin statutes and Board of Regent policy. PROFS is a product of shared governance, having been created by the Faculty Senate in 1976. We encourage faculty to attend the reception and learn more about shared governance and how to become more involved in governance groups and committees.