OPINION & EDITORIAL
UW budget can’t take another cut
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Also by Badger Herald Editorial Board:
- A security fee-for-all (December 11, 2007)
- Farewell, Chancellor (December 10, 2007)
- $$FC (December 6, 2007)
- In a bind (December 5, 2007)
- Entitlement Town (December 4, 2007)
Related Stories:
- UW-Madison: A cut above the rest (February 12, 2003)
- Make ASM plan ahead (March 5, 2002)
- Doyle passes the buck (February 20, 2003)
- Where do students rank? (November 12, 2001)
- GOPs misinformed, inaccurate (October 12, 2006)
by Badger Herald Editorial Board
Thursday, May 8, 2003
When Gov. Jim Doyle took office in February and made his initial proposals to close the state’s multi-billion dollar budget deficit, UW’s message was that the governor’s budget proposal cut UW’s operating budget to the bone. From the beginning, the most reasonable compensation for these cuts has been a significant in-state tuition hike. This Herald editorial board has advocated this hike to lessen the blow the budget will give to the quality of the UW degrees we will all be carrying into the future.
UW was able to stomach a good chunk of the governor’s proposed cuts through careful preparation, but if a significant tuition increase does not occur or if the Legislature gouges the UW System budget further than the proposed $250 million, the quality of a UW education will suffer significant and perhaps irreparable harm. Currently, Doyle has budgeted for the system to recoup about $150 million of the cuts with a tuition increase.
Trouble inside the statehouse is looming as UW heads into summer recess with the Republican-controlled state Legislature preparing to wrestle with Democrat Doyle’s budget proposal. The governor’s proposal rests on an assumption of five percent economic growth over the next biennium.
Given the current economic conditions and the likelihood of swift recovery, this assumption is bound to face scrutiny in front of the partisan Legislature. Barring a tax increase — an eventuality which has political legs of toothpicks on both sides of the aisle — more cuts are likely on the way before all is said and done.
Whether the UW System will again fall under the ax is uncertain, and we make one final plea to avoid that fate. Higher education, a prize of the state of Wisconsin, was locked in Doyle’s crosshairs from the start. Wisconsin technical colleges are being forced to absorb a larger cut than expected. With the cash cows of higher education and the corrections system having already met their fate, the sacred cows of infrastructure, K-12 education and tax hikes are now at risk.
While we recognize these are desperate times, we must bring to light the inherent lack of wisdom in banking economic policy on future economic growth while at the same time slashing and burning those institutions that will provide the basis for high-paying jobs and technological advancement. These are the driving forces behind any 21st century economy, especially that of a state with an industrial past now struggling to give way to a future oriented toward services and research.
The UW System, and the University of Wisconsin in particular, is one of the few institutions in the state promoting, affecting, creating and driving the marketable knowledge upon which Wisconsin’s economic future rests. If Doyle and others in the Capitol are looking to grow the proverbial money tree, they cannot reasonably slice out its roots and then hope for a speedy ascent. And this is exactly what further, damaging cuts to the UW System would do.
The “operations budget,” which covers the day-to-day costs of running the school, will be decided outside of the university’s capital budget, for which the state must determine whether to fund, among other projects, the development and construction of a new cogeneration power plant on the west end of campus.
Chancellor Wiley recently lent his support to the MG&E proposal; this appears the most sensible option to ensure safe, reliable and clean energy for UW’s future. The Legislature will consider in the next several weeks or months whether to fund or defer its construction. In light of is necessity, we urge its passage with the knowledge that deferment is a likely and not unreasonable scenario given current economic circumstances.
That said, state officials must recognize that any budgeting process is essentially a two-way street. The state must give a little to get a lot. A study commissioned by the university to assess UW’s statewide economic impact estimates that impact at 4.7 billion dollars annually, or more than 2 percent of the states entire gross domestic product — for an institution with a billion-dollar budget, analysts agree the return on investment is UW’s most valuable asset.
The next several weeks will be a defining time for the state and the university. If state General Public Revenue funding, the core of the university, drops below 20 percent of the total System budget, additional federal research dollars that come to institutions with a robust research infrastructure will dry up in their wake, as will alumni donations in turn. UW’s long-term status as a world-class university will be severely jeopardized, which is something the state simply cannot afford — in both real dollars and marginal gain.
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