The University of Wisconsin System’s 10 percent budget cut proposal is finding few friends at the state Capitol.

In a rare display of unity with Gov. Jim Doyle, Republicans blasted the plan Thursday for its lack of administrative cuts, saying students are being asked to pick up a disproportionately large tab for the system’s budget woes.

“They could have streamlined [their operations] and cut bureaucracy, but instead they’ve chosen to propose an inflammatory, in-your-face cut to students,” said Mike Prentiss, spokesman for Joint Finance Committee co-chair Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau.

Faced with a projected budget deficit for the 2005-07 biennium, Doyle asked every state agency to submit a 10 percent reduction plan by Nov. 15.

The UW System proposed to fill its mandatory cut, approximately $28 million, by reducing instructional and support staff and slashing enrollment by more than 1,500 students.

Several legislators accused the university, in cutting services directly affecting students and not administration, of trying to scare the state into not cutting any university funding. The university system sustained a $250 million budget cut in the last biennial budget.

“Quite frankly, this should be a wake-up call to students,” state Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, said. “I believe students have been fooled in the past into believing the legislature isn’t funding the university system as much as the system thinks it should.”

Adding fuel to the debate is a September investigation by the state Legislative Audit Bureau finding 25 percent of UW System personnel fill administrative roles, far more than the 6.9 percent figure previously reported by the system. Administrative salaries went up nine percent last year, while student tuition continued on its steady ascent of recent years.

Nass said it was clear the system had not learned its lesson from the audit.

“They don’t want to face the fact that they have a very high number of administrative positions, so instead they cut enrollment,” he said.

Although revenue figures have not yet been released, the state is projected to face at least a $1.5 billion deficit over the next two years.

If the 10 percent cut holds, UW’s inability to find administrative savings would be “unacceptable,” Doyle spokesperson Melanie Fonder said.

The governor is expected to finish his budget in January, when it will go up for approval in the state legislature.

UW System spokesman Doug Bradley said there was a miscommunication between the university and governor’s office as to the nature of the 10 percent exercise. Once the university knows the exact amount of its budget deficit to absorb, the system will be able to craft a proposal addressing administrative inefficiencies, Bradley said.

“I think Doyle and the legislature might be pleasantly surprised,” Bradley said.

Assemblyman Mark Pocan, D-Madison, a member of the Finance Committee, took a moderate approach to the proposal, saying the university merely proposed a “worst-case scenario” in its plan.

“This is a dance we see every two years,” Pocan said of the budget process.

Like his fellow lawmakers, Pocan expressed disappointment with parts of UW’s proposal, but said he expects the final budget to look entirely different by its July 2005 completion.