Let’s rewind about a month and a half.
As hard as it may be to believe, it actually looked like relations between the University of Wisconsin and the state government were on the mend. Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank had just been chosen as UW’s next chancellor – a selection that was praised by, of all people, our very own Gov. Scott Walker. While not all Republicans were on board with the selection, one should not put too much stake in the opinions of folks with as weak a grasp on basic facts as Sen. Glen Grothman, R-West Bend.
However, since then, state-university relations have taken a turn for the worse, with state officials “discovering” a surplus of more than $600 million in the UW System.
Much has already been said about this surplus, including an editorial by this newspaper that summarizes my thoughts on the issue quite nicely.
To put it succinctly, the so-called “slush fund,” which is obviously not actually a slush fund, is on par with what other schools in the Big Ten keep on hand. The only real mistake the UW System made was that it lacked transparency with regards to the revenue balance and handled the ensuing public relations situation very poorly. Had System officials stayed in front of this story, this would be a nonissue, and activists on both sides of the aisle wouldn’t even know this was something they could be bitching about.
However, the time for mending the public relations situation has come and gone, so we’re left doing damage control – and there is plenty to be done.
On Monday, Walker announced his plans to divert some of the $181 million originally intended for the state’s higher education system to K-12 education. He also proposed tax cuts in response to the UW System cash reserve. However, Walker declined to specify what proportion of the UW cuts would go to public education, and what proportion would go to increasing his tax cut.
This is a wise political move. After all, no one wants to come out against increasing funding for K-12 public education. Think of the kids! By not specifying how much of the cut will go where, Walker guaranteed himself relatively favorable coverage (and muted criticism) of the announcement. Even if most of the money goes toward a tax cut – which, while purely speculative on my part, seems likely, the story will likely have died by the time he makes an announcement.
If I’m wrong and a significant portion of the cuts do in fact go to K-12 education rather than tax cuts, and if Walker truly believes that taking UW funding and giving it to K-12 education is the right thing to do, then it will be hard to argue against him. While UW could certainly use the money, so could the rest of the public education system. It’s difficult to push for more UW funding at the expense of young students without reverting to simple selfish arguments. I certainly don’t want my tuition to go up more than it has to, but I also don’t want to keep my tuition low at the expense of a younger generation.
However, if my hunch is correct, and this is just a political ploy by Walker to punish those pesky liberals pursuing a college degree, then it is truly reprehensible. I’ve already written about Walker’s tax cut (hint: it sucks), so I won’t go into much detail about it here. Simply put, the state would benefit far more from funding higher education than giving out a fairly small tax cut.
Education is too important to the future of the state for Walker to be playing politics with it. Unfortunately, it looks like that is precisely what’s happening. I sincerely hope state Republicans and system officials can come to a mutual understanding that will benefit everyone. It would be a shame for a new chancellor to be welcomed in the midst such hostile relations between the state and UW.
Joe Timmerman ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in economics and math with a certificate in computer science.
