Tag: 2015-17 state budget

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.

 

Senator Fitzgerald on Capitol City Sunday

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) discussed the state budget on WKOW’s Capitol City Sunday with Greg Neumann this week.

Fitzgerald was asked how his caucus will prioritize any additional revenue after revised estimates are announced next week. He said the estimates are likely to be lower than hoped and the first priority is K-12 education, followed by the state’s transportation needs.

When asked about Governor Scott Walker’s proposed $300 million budget cut to UW System, Fitzgerald 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 told Neumann that some legislators still have a bitter taste in their mouths after the budget surplus issue of the last biennium.

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Joint Finance Committee Update

The Joint Finance Committee has met three times in recent weeks to vote on motions related to the 2015-17 biennial budget (Senate Bill 21). Committee Co-chair Representative John Nygren (R-Marinette) said Wednesday he did not expect to meet next week, as the committee waits on revised revenue estimates due in early May.

Legislative leaders have previously said they would direct additional revenue, if available, toward K-12 education, transportation needs, and the University of Wisconsin System. However, recent statements by Governor Walker and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald indicate revenue estimates may come in lower than hoped, leaving little extra funding for the university.

PROFS continues to meet with legislators, including members of the Joint Finance Committee, advocating for the best possible budget for UW-Madison faculty.

The following topics have been discussed by Joint Finance:

  • Circuit Courts and Supreme Court
  • Health Services, Medical Assistance
  • Historical Society
  • Insurance
  • Lottery
  • Military Affairs
  • Natural Resources
  • Public Service Commission
  • Secretary of State
  • Tourism
  • Transportation (in part)
  • Veterans Affairs
  • Wisconsin Technical Colleges

A cumulative list of budget papers is here:

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

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.

Senate Leaders Disagree on Proposed Cuts to UW System

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Schilling (D-La Crosse) appeared on UpFront with Mike Gousha on April 12 and agreed on little, including Governor Scott Walker’s proposed $300 million cut to the University of Wisconsin System.

Fitzgerald said he believes the quality of a University of Wisconsin education will not suffer as a result of budget cuts — “I think they will be fine in the end” —  while Schilling maintained the proposed cuts have already adversely affected campuses around the state, citing already-announced buyouts at five campuses. Schilling also said time to degree could increase as a result of the cuts.

Discussion about UW System begins at the 3:45 minute mark.

Governor Walker: Freeze Tuition for Two Years, Tie Future Increases to Inflation

Governor Scott Walker said yesterday in a letter to the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Finance (below) that he continues to support public authority status for the University of Wisconsin System. Legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle have expressed concern over the proposal, with Joint Finance Committee Co-chair John Nygren (R-Marinette) saying the plan had little support among Assembly Republicans and is “dead in our caucus.”

Walker also said he intends to limit tuition increases to no more than the annual change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) after a two-year freeze, saying the move would protect students and parent from unpredictable tuition increases.

UW System President Ray Cross said in statement (below) that tying tuition increases to CPI “is not compatible with the agile, market-driven, and competitive entity the state needs us to be.”

The governor also said he would not change statutory language regarding the university’s mission, thus keeping the Wisconsin Idea intact.

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PolitiFact on UW-Madison Faculty Research Dollars

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

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.