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:
Loading...
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:
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 has a strong record of advocating for the best possible pay plans for University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty and staff and our work during 2021-23 budget process is no different. The Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to vote on a pay plan for state employees, including those at UW-Madison Thursday. This is the letter we shared with committee members earlier today.
Loading...
Former PROFS President and University Committee Chair Judith Burstyn recently appeared on Wisconsin Public Television’s Here & Now with Frederica Freyburg. Burstyn discussed Joint Finance Committee (JFC) action on the UW System portion of the 2019-21 Wisconsin Biennial Budget, which was approved 12-4 along party lines.
The Republican motion will continue the tuition freeze for two more years, but does not fund the freeze. The motion also included a $59 million increase in funding, $69 million less than Governor Evers proposed as part of his budget. The committee also voted to require JFC approval of how UW campuses will spend money earmarked for academic programming in high demand fields.
Loading…
The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to vote on the University of Wisconsin System portion of Governor Evers’ 2019-21 state budget today. Republicans hold a 12-4 majority of the committee and are expected to make significant changes to the governor’s budget.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau has prepared a summary document (below) on several topics, including tuition, supplemental pay, and UW-Extension cooperative agriculture agents. The committee will likely consider options offered in the paper.
Loading…
Mark Cook Bills
Assembly Bill 38 and Senate Bill 42, bipartisan legislation named in honor of the late UW-Madison Animal Science professor Mark Cook, have begun to move through the legislative process. The Assembly Constitution and Ethics Committee held a hearing on AB 38 last week, and the Senate Committee on Universities, Technical Colleges, Children and Families will meet today to discuss the SB 42. More information is here.
These companion bills are a top legislative priority for PROFS and are the result of the work of PROFS’ Entrepreneurial Work Group, which was led by Cook. If passed, this legislation will expedite and strengthen the process for Board of Regent approval of projects that involve companies or non-profit organizations in which faculty or staff have a financial interest. Last session, the legislation was approved unanimously in committee and by voice vote in the Assembly, but never received a floor vote in the Senate before the end of the session.
2019-21 Biennial Budget
The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance and Governor Tony Evers both held public hearings on the proposed state budget last month. Republican leadership said last week they reject much of Evers’ budget and will work off the existing state budget when the Joint Finance Committee begins its work May 9. GOP leaders outlined several fiscal and policy items they do not support, but they have not commented on the governor’s higher education budget.
Governor Evers higher education budget includes increases of $44.7 million in FY20 and $66 million in FY21 and $40.4 million for a 2% pay plan for UW System employees, including UW-Madison faculty.
PROFS has already met with members of the governor’s staff and key legislators to discuss items important to UW-Madison faculty and will continue to meet with legislative leaders and others throughout the lengthy budget process. Both houses of the Republican-led state legislature must approve the budget before it is returned to the governor for his vetoes and final approval. The 2019-21 budget officially begins on July 1, but funding continues at existing levels until a proposal is signed into law. Historically, the budget is passed sometime in the summer, but occasionally the process has stretched into the fall.
State Budget Forum Video
Video from the PROFS/WISCAPE state budget forum is on YouTube. The forum featured State Representative Dave Murphy (R-Greenville), Chair, Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee; State Representative Katrina Shankland (D-Stevens Point), former Joint Finance Committee member; Jeff Buhrandt, Senior Director for State Relations, UW System; UW-Madison professor Nicholas Hillman (Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis); and Noel Radomski, Managing Director of WISCAPE.
PROFS will host a forum to discuss Governor Tony Ever’s 2019-21 state budget proposal at noon, Tuesday, April 2 in Room 159 Education (1000 Bascom Mall) This event is free and open to the public and refreshments will be served.
The panel includes:
The governor’s higher education budget includes increases of $44.7 million in FY20 and $66 million in FY21 and a 2% pay plan for UW System employees, including UW-Madison faculty. Additional details:
The state budget process is a months-long process that stretches into summer and often into autumn. The Joint Finance Committee and both houses of the Republican-led state legislature must approve the plan before it is returned to the governor for his vetoes and final approval.
Event cosponsors: The Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education (WISCAPE), Academic Staff Professionals Representation Organization (ASPRO), and the Wisconsin Alumni Association.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau released a summary of AB 64, the 2017-19 biennial budget, along with individual agency summaries, including UW System (below). These documents reflect the Governor’s original proposal and changes made by the Joint Finance Committee.
Both houses of the legislature must pass the bill, which will be taken up by the Assembly tomorrow, Wednesday, September 13. Governor Walker said last week he hopes to sign the bill later this month.
Loading...
Loading...
The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance concluded its work on the 2017-19 state budget last night with the adoption along party lines of a “wrap-up” motion that included several non-fiscal policy items relating to the University of Wisconsin System (highlighted below, pages 2, 8, 9).
Faculty Workload Reporting
The committee restored language originally proposed by the governor in February. Each UW institution will be required to create a policy that monitors faculty and instructional academic staff teaching loads. Each institution will also be required to develop a policy for rewarding faculty and instructional staff who exceed standard workloads. Aggregate data must be published on UW System’s online accountability dashboard and included in legislatively mandated accountability reports.
Qualifications of UW System President, Chancellor, Provost and Vice Chancellor positions
The committee modified previously adopted language relating to the hiring of university leadership positions. The new language prohibits individual campuses from adopting a policy that requires the Board of Regents to only consider candidates who hold tenure or a terminal degree in their field. The committee had previously applied that prohibition to the Board of Regents. UW-Madison Faculty Policies and Procedures (FP&P) currently requires the Chancellor and Provost to hold a tenured faculty position.
Earlier in the budget process, PROFS asked the co-chairs of the finance committee to remove the proposed language. A Regent working group is currently reviewing the hiring process and expects to release their recommendations later this fall. PROFS is carefully monitoring the group’s work.
Pay Plan
The motion also changes the dates for the proposed 2 percent pay plan for all state employees, including UW faculty and staff, from September 30, 2018 and May 26, 2019 to July 1, 2018 and January 1, 2019. The pay plan must also be approved by the Joint Committee on Employment Relations.
Loading...
Reload document 
Open in new tab