Gov. Jim Doyle unveiled his revision of the Wisconsin state budget July 25, which outlined the state’s spending plan for the next two years.
The University of Wisconsin System received $34 million more under Doyle’s budget vetoes than were previously approved by the state Legislature. Doyle also included $8 million dedicated to increase financial aid for UW students.
“The governor used his veto pen to protect key priorities, like the UW System,” said Ethnie Groves, a spokeswoman for Doyle. “In doing so, the governor met his goal of doubling the state’s contribution to financial aid for UW students over four years.”
UW System Director of Communications Doug Bradley said the budget does not meet the $100 million increase the UW Board of Regents had asked for last August to boost resources as well as financial aid and to curtail tuition increases. However, Bradley said the changes Doyle made are an improvement compared to the Legislature’s budget.
“The concern we have now is that as the state continues to diminish its support for the University System, it puts more pressure on students because tuition increases and financial aid is not at the necessary level,” Bradley said.
Budget limits have forced UW to hire fewer faculty and staff members, Bradley added, which means fewer class options for students. In turn, students may have to delay graduation to get the classes they need.
To support the high level of teaching and reallocate funding for students, the UW System will be cutting 200 administrative positions, he said.
The budget Doyle originally outlined in the spring was reformulated by the Joint Finance Committee and was then passed by both houses of the state Legislature. Doyle used his line-item veto capability to restructure the budget with 139 individual vetoes. Doyle also cut almost $360 million from different areas in the budget.
Doyle’s vetoes made significant changes to other state programs. The Wisconsin public education system received more than $400 million in additional state funding after Doyle’s vetoes, nearly doubling the funding passed by the Legislature. Money was transferred from state transportation to the general fund, and several areas of the Medicaid program also saw cutbacks.
Mike Prentiss, a spokesperson for State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said Fitzgerald, who co-chaired the JFC, does not agree with Doyle’s vetoes.
“We have a number of concerns,” Prentiss said. “First and foremost is that the governor is going around claiming he signed the property tax freeze but all he really did was water down the tax freeze that Republicans have been proposing for the past years that he has been consistently vetoing.”
Prentiss also noted some modifications Doyle made in the budget to increase funding might not have been in accordance with his abilities to veto budget provisions. One such instance is the increase in funding given to the UW System, he said.
“We are not sure how Doyle was able to accomplish some of his goals,” Prentiss said. “And we want to make sure he did them within the restrictions that are placed upon what he can and can not do with a veto pen.”
However, Groves said other governors have made similar changes in previous budgets that increased funding for programs.
“In the 1999-2000 budget, Gov. Thompson exercised his digit veto to create over $60 million in additional spending,” Groves said.
After reviewing the budget, the Legislature may decide to override some vetoes, which would require a two-thirds vote in each house. Though he has received criticism from Republican legislators over the budget, Doyle has fulfilled many of his objectives, Groves said.
“The governor was focused on the priorities of the citizens of Wisconsin and he was working to fully fund education and freeze property taxes and that is what his budget did,” Groves said.
