In the wake of budget cuts and loss of state aid included in Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget, Madison Area Technical College officials are looking for ways to manage the expenses of new school buildings approved by voters in November.
Walker’s proposed budget would cut state funding to MATC by 30 percent and effectively freeze the college’s levy rate for operations, leaving them unable to raise property taxes to fund projects, MATC Vice President for Infrastructure Roger Price said.
MATC officials have previously presented plans to expand current buildings on campus, including a new health education center, police and fire facilities and a campus clinic – all of which were approved through a referendum late last year.
Despite the unanticipated financial obstacles, Price said the college has no plans to alter the current schedule as it stands.
“So far we have not affected nor do we have plans to affect the schedule,” Price said. “Right now we’re just looking at how to do it differently than we thought about doing it.”
Price said it’s too early to tell what specifically can be done, but the facilities and capacity issues are still apparent. He said MATC officials are working on analyzing the issues and making transparent decisions soon.
Price said the school needed to look at its different options and determine what would strategically be the best path for the college to take.
“With the combination of the loss of state aid and freeze of our levy rate for operations, we’re going to take a look at our core functions and strategically address what we can without impacting what we do for our students and what we do for our communities,” Price said.
For the immediate future, officials are looking to see how Walker’s budget will affect next year’s MATC budget, but long-term solutions are not anticipated to have an impact on the newer facilities planned for development throughout the next few years.
Price said officials would not begin to forecast on how to address the expenses until the new facilities are online.
Some students have speculated the plan in combination with the budget cuts would bring about higher tuition costs. MATC works with the College Board, which sets tuition rates, and tuition has been increasing annually by about 5 percent for the past decade.
MATC works with the City of Madison and is located in the “airport’s authority zone,” Price said. He said the possibility of increasing tuition rates is a matter of presenting the school’s plan to the agencies for support.
MATC second-year student Michael Johnson said the school has seen a 22 percent increase in enrollment throughout the past couple of years, causing a need to create additional facilities. He said there is almost a three-year waiting period for students wanting to join the school’s medical program because of a lack of space.
Johnson said the school could run more efficiently with more capacity and classroom space.
“I’d have to argue that someone with more experience in education policy would understand that the government can’t tighten its belt in this situation on an individual operation because so many people’s lives depend on it,” Johnson said about Walker. “What will those students do? What will potential students do”?
