PROFS recently communicated with faculty regarding the decision by Republican-led Joint Committee on Employment Relations to not approve UW System employee pay raises. Our letter:
Tag: 2023-25 state budget
PROFS Urges JCOER to Approve State Employee Pay Plan
The 2023-25 state budget signed into law by Governor Tony Evers on July 5 included funding for pay increases for state employees, including UW-Madison faculty and staff — a 4% pay increase effective July 1, 2023 and a 2% pay increase on July 1, 2024.
The Joint Committee on Employment Relations must approve the pay play for the raises to take effect. Our letter urging the co-chairs to schedule a committee meeting to approve the plan as soon as possible is below:
PROFS Statement on Governor Evers’ Budget Vetoes
PROFS Statement on Passage of the 2023-25 State Budget
PROFS Statement on Joint Finance Committee Action
On Thursday, the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee voted along party lines to reject funding for the UW-Madison Engineering Building Project. Our statement on the Committee’s vote is here:
Updated: PROFS and ASPRO State Budget Forum
Due to a scheduling conflict, State Representative Shelia Stubbs (D-Madison) is not able to participate in the PROFS/ASPRO State Budget Forum on Tuesday, May 2. State Senator Kelda Roys (D-Madison) will take her place on the panel. Senator Roys, elected to the State Senate in 2020, is a member of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee. She served two terms in the State Assembly from 2009-2012. She was also a candidate for the House of Representatives in 2012 and Governor in 2018.
The forum will be held at 4 pm, Tuesday, May 2 in the Wisconsin Idea Room in the Education Building, 1000 Bascom Mall. The additional panelists:
- State Representative Robert Wittke (R-Racine), member Colleges & Universities Committee
- Crystal Potts, Director of State Relations, UW-Madison
- UW Madison Professor J. Michael Collins (School of Human Ecology and La Follette School of Public Affairs) and PROFS Steering Committee member
- PROFS Legislative Representative Jack O’Meara, moderator
Each panelist will offer insight to the 2023-25 state budget and members of the audience will have the opportunity to submit questions to the moderator. We expect a lively, bipartisan discussion.
This event is open to the public and refreshments will be served.
PROFS & ASPRO State Budget Forum
PROFS and ASPRO State Budget Forum
PROFS and ASPRO will host a campus forum on the state budget at 4 pm, Tuesday, May 2 in the Wisconsin Idea Room in the Education Building, 1000 Bascom Mall. This event is open to the public and refreshments will be served.
Our panel:
- State Representative Shelia Stubbs (D-Madison), member Colleges & Universities Committee
- State Representative Robert Wittke (R-Racine), member Colleges & Universities Committee
- Crystal Potts, Director of State Relations, UW-Madison
- UW Madison Professor J. Michael Collins (School of Human Ecology and La Follette School of Public Affairs)
PROFS Legislative Representative Jack O’Meara will moderate.
In February, Governor Tony Evers announced a $104 billion spending plan that reflected the state’s record $7.1 billion surplus. The governor’s budget focused on increased funding for K-12 education and aid to local governments, middle-class tax cuts, and seed funding for a paid parental leave program for most of the state’s workers, but Republican leaders said they plan to work off the current base budget and create their own plan in the Joint Finance Committee.
The governor also announced a $3.8 billion capital budget, which directed $1.8 billion to UW System. Evers’ plan included four major projects at UW-Madison: a new Engineering Building, a new Athletics practice facility, new space for the Art Department, and restoration of Music Hall, but his proposal was deadlocked in the State Building Commission, leaving the Republican-led Joint Finance Committee to determine the capital budget as well.
Our panelists will offer insight on what a GOP-crafted budget may look like and how Governor Evers may use his veto authority once the bill reaches his desk later this summer.
PROFS Statement on Governor Evers’ 2023-25 Budget Proposal
Last night, Governor Tony Evers delivered his biennial budget address, announcing a $104 billion in spending over two years. His plan for the 2023-25 state budget reflects increased spending as a result of a projected $7.1 billion budget surplus at the end of the current fiscal year. The largest items include a $2.6 billion K-12 budget, $1.2 billion in middle-class tax cuts, a second year $576 million increase in aid to local governments, and almost $250 million to seed a new family leave program for public and most private sector employees.
Evers’ budget also includes pay raises of 5% in the first year of the biennium and 3% in the second year and funding UW System’s Wisconsin Tuition Promise.
Our statement on Governor Evers’ budget proposal:
Governor Evers’ University of Wisconsin System proposed budget:
UW-Madison State Budget Priorities
Governor Tony Evers will deliver his first State of the State Address of his second term in office at 7 pm tonight. Coverage of the speech is available on Wisconsin Public Radio and PBS Wisconsin.
While a preview of the speech was not made available, the governor is expected to offer some insight on where he might direct some of the state’s record $6.6 billion budget surplus as part of the 2023-25 biennial budget.
PROFS has already met with members of Governor Evers’ staff to discuss the upcoming budget, and UW-Madison has outlined its priorities in the handout below. The budget process is lengthy and begins on February 15 when the governor delivers his biennial budget message.
PROFS is actively involved throughout the entire process and will continue to keep faculty and the entire university community informed over the coming months. Follow PROFS on Facebook and Twitter for the most current information.