The heads of the Universities of Wisconsin system and the state Department of Corrections faced critical questions from Republican state lawmakers Tuesday over requests for new state funding.
UW-Madison administrators have long wanted to tear down the Humanities Building for a host of reasons. The facility has faced problems since before it opened in the late 1960s, including costly construction, design cuts and poor acoustics.
Leaders of the Universities of Wisconsin and the state Department of Corrections (DOC) defended Gov. Tony Evers’ budget requests to lawmakers on the Joint Finance Committee during a meeting Tuesday.
The State Building Commission has deadlocked on recommendations for new capital spending in the upcoming budget Tuesday, ceding its authority once again to the Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget committee.
The Universities of Wisconsin System requested a variety of projects when the State Building Commission was considering allocation of its funds, according to the official State Building Commission’s agenda and requests statement. These included new electrical systems, demolition and replacement of old or outdated buildings along with fixing and adding parking lots around campus, according to the agenda and requests statement.
Gov. Tony Evers visited the University of Wisconsin-Madison Thursday, touring Chadbourne Residence Hall and the Mosse Humanities Building to hear student concerns about the building and to highlight his 2025-27 Executive and Capital Budget investments.
The committee heard testimony from agencies with employees who telework, including the Department of Public Instruction and the Department of Safety and Professional Services, in addition to the University of Wisconsin System and private-sector companies.
Gov. Tony Evers announced the 2025-27 Capital Budget, proposing investments of $4.1 billion directed towards renovating aging infrastructure within the University of Wisconsin System.
Gov. Tony Evers is recommending the state take a wrecking ball to numerous aging state facilities, including the Green Bay Correctional Institution and UW-Madison’s Mosse Humanities building, as part of his $4.1 billion capital spending plan.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers wants to spend about $4 billion on state building upgrades across Wisconsin under a plan released Monday.
If approved, about $1.6 billion would go to the University of Wisconsin System for brick-and-mortar building projects. Other big-ticket items include $634 million for the Department of Corrections, $137 million for upgrades to veteran homes and $40 million to restore the state Capitol building.
Gov. Tony Evers unveiled a capital budget Monday that calls for $4.1 billion in new building projects around the state, with the largest chunk going toward Universities of Wisconsin campuses.
Essentially, the University of Wisconsin-Madison wants the authority to borrow money for construction projects that are funded by the university and don’t involve state tax dollars. Currently, that authority rests with the state.
Evers highlighted his “Year of the Kid” designation and said a focus needs to be on schools during the budget season. An ongoing battle over literacy funding from the last budget is yet to be squared away and he called for setting aside funds for youth mental health. Though funding for public schools, the University of Wisconsin and the state’s technical schools is large, it’s a necessary investment, especially because of the uncertainty at the federal level, he said.
UW-Madison is balking at a key lawmaker’s claim that the university has broken its promise to establish an endowed professorship focusing on conservative politics or thought.
Jay Rothman interview with WISC-TV on the state budget bill introduced this week by Gov. Evers.
UW-Madison has eyed the demise of the Humanities building for the last decade, when leaders developed the current campus master plan, a wide-ranging road map for new developments and renovations, in 2015.
The governor’s budget proposal would increase K-12 spending by a substantial $3.15 billion, in addition to more than $850 million for the Universities of Wisconsin System. A child care subsidy, previously subsidized by the federal government, would be paid for by $480 million in state funds under Evers’ plan.
For higher education, Evers proposed $856 million for the University of Wisconsin System, in line with the agency’s request. That includes an about $40 million scholarship program to benefit around 5,000 students whose families have an income less than the state median.
Evers proposed $856 million in new operational funding for the UW system, more than the $800 million he pledged to the UW Board of Regents last August. His proposed budget also includes $60 million in new state aid for Wisconsin’s technical college system, $10 million of which is meant to support the 16 two-year colleges in investing in artificial intelligence.
In June, the governor said he wanted to see an additional $856 million go to the Universities of Wisconsin. Evers said the next state spending plan is a “make-or-break budget for our UW campuses.”
Evers will ask the Legislature to approve an additional $856 million in funding for the University of Wisconsin System, the largest two-year increase in history.
The UW System is asking for roughly $855 million over two years from the state and urged support for that funding during a discussion with members of the Hoan Group, a private group of about 160 business and community members in the Milwaukee and Madison area.
Changes to federal funding directly impacts Wisconsin’s largest university. The National Institutes of Health is reducing the rate for its “indirect costs” grants to 15%, which goes into effect on February 10.
UW system Capital Planning Vice President Alex Roe told the UW Board of Regents that two projects are a particular concern: UW-Stout’s $138.9 million Heritage Hall project and the $96.3 million Cofrin Library at UW-Green Bay.
Public and private leaders in Milwaukee say increasing funding for the Universities of Wisconsin system will lead to more people living and working in the state.
Work can begin on a new engineering building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison after the State Building Commission reversed course Friday and approved the long-awaited project.
The State Building Commission on Friday approved a new proposal to use unspent funds for a new engineering building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and other projects in the university system.
Construction proposed to begin in 2026, end in 2029.
The embattled University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering building is back on track.
The State Building Commission unanimously approved the project’s new $420 million budget during a Friday meeting, a few weeks after Republican lawmakers stalled the project last month over transparency concerns related to increasing the project’s budget.
The Wisconsin State Building Commission approved funding for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s new engineering hall in a unanimous vote Friday.
Plans to build UW-Madison’s new $419 million engineering building got back on track Friday after the state’s Building Commission — which initially denied UW system’s request to reallocate millions in state funds for the Madison project and others — signed off on the transfers.
Despite losing 14 seats in the fall election, GOP legislators still feel empowered to hold the state’s largest economic engine hostage to the whims of its most petty members. Republicans on the state Building Commission ganged up on UW-Madison last week and threw another obstacle in the path of the long-awaited and already-approved new engineering building.
When UW leaders asked for $845 million, a fraction of the total amount cut from the UW budget under his watch, Assembly Speaker Vos said, “I just know that some of these numbers, where they ask for the moon, are unrealistic.”
When Vos graduated from UW-Whitewater in 1991, Wisconsin’s higher education appropriations per student were $11,028. In 2023 it was $9,277. So the “moon” was realistic when he personally benefited from taxpayer support, but is unrealistic when it is your turn to benefit?
The State Building Commission denied a motion to allow $70 million in underspent funds to be used for a series of planned Universities of Wisconsin projects including the new engineering building at UW-Madison.
The future of UW-Madison’s new engineering building, as well as other Universities of Wisconsin building priorities, is again in limbo after Republicans on the state’s Building Commission refused to reallocate nearly $70 million in state funds.
The new University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering building is again in peril.
Republican lawmakers rejected the UW System’s request to increase the project’s $347 million budget by $73 million during a State Building Commission meeting Wednesday. The ask to bump up the budget was based on increased costs and design changes, including an additional floor for business partnership opportunities.
Plans for a new, long-awaited engineering building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison face another obstacle after the State Building Commission denied a request Wednesday to adjust funding and approve construction.
Nedweski outlined a plan to address possible inefficiencies within Milwaukee Public Schools, the University of Wisconsin, the Department of Safety and Professional Services, and law enforcement. She is known for her efforts to shut down a Kenosha Unified School District board meeting in 2021 as a member of Moms for Liberty. Nedweski and others appeared at the meeting, holding signs that read, among other things, “We do not co-parent with the government.”
The request came after bids for projects in Eau Claire came in well under budget. However, the commission shot down the request due to what Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu called a lack of transparency.
Based on assessment findings, UW President Jay Rothman foresees higher oversight involvement and visibility of the Board of Regents.
UW-Madison is adding a business partnership floor to its upcoming engineering building, aimed at opening a direct pipeline between students and the kinds of businesses that may one day employee them.
UW System President Jay Rothman defended his agency’s $855 million budget request by saying it “gets (Wisconsin) up to average” and steps up from its low ranking. Rothman is correct that Wisconsin ranks 43rd in the country when it comes to funding public, four-year universities.
Rothman’s math also adds up. Subtracting Wisconsin’s revenue per student from the national average, then multiplying it by the total number of students in the system, does total $457 million.
We rate Rothman’s claim True.
State funding for the University of Wisconsin System was one of the biggest budget battles in 2023, and it’s looking like 2025 will be no different.
The UW System is asking for $855 million from the state Legislature in the upcoming two-year state budget, which lawmakers will craft in the coming months.
Merrifield discussed her priorities, the tech system’s upcoming state budget request and how she’ll approach conversations with lawmakers in a recent interview with the Cap Times.
Republicans have long urged government to run more like a business.
Well, the Universities of Wisconsin are doing just that, under the leadership of President Jay Rothman. The GOP-controlled Legislature should appreciate and reward his effort with greater funding in the state budget.
The Universities of Wisconsin are set to fare better financially than earlier projected, largely due to sizeable increases in tuition at a handful of schools and unaccounted-for donation dollars for UW-Madison, the system said Monday.
Wisconsin state agencies have requested to spend $53.8 billion next fiscal year and $55.8 billion in fiscal 2026-27 in the state’s upcoming biennial budget.
Those are increases from the adjusted base of $49.4 billion this fiscal year with a large portion of that increase coming from the Department of Public Instruction’s $3 billion requested increase and Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed $800 million increase for the University of Wisconsin System.
Habush Sinkyin said one takeaway from talking to voters on the campaign trail was that the state Legislature needs to do more to fund public schools and the University of Wisconsin System, local governments, health care and tax relief.
Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, who was reelected to her leadership position Tuesday, said the new districts provide “a pathway to a majority in 2026.” Hesselbein, D-Middleton, said Senate Democrats will make a renewed push to spend some of the state’s surplus on K-12 education, public universities, workforce needs and middle-class tax cuts.
The state Legislature should consider splitting UW-Madison from the rest of the Universities of Wisconsin system, according to a panel of legislators and others making a list of recommendations about the future of the UW system.
Universities of Wisconsin campuses have 1,177 more students this fall than previously projected, according to enrollment data released Tuesday.
At the same time, the Universities of Wisconsin system is calling for an $855 million state funding increase in the next two-year budget. And some expect Republicans in the Legislature will push for tax cuts.
Alobbyist organization for Madison-area landlords and property owners hoped to stall UW-Madison’s push to build a new residence hall, according to a letter to the UW Board of Regents shown to the Wisconsin State Journal last week.
There’s a lot of public discussion about how much state taxpayer money the University of Wisconsin System should receive.
There’s next to none about how that money is divvied up between the universities.
At the Coachman’s Inn just north of Edgerton, Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman stood in a private dining room to make his case for why public financial support for the UW system must rise beyond its current ranking of 43rd among the 50 states.
The percentage of Black, Latino and Indigenous students in UW-Madison’s Class of 2028 has dropped, despite a record number of applications, following last year’s Supreme Court ruling that barred consideration of race in college applications.
Four University of Wisconsin System branch campuses increased enrollment since last fall, while five saw student headcount decline, according to preliminary estimates released after an outcry from media organizations and a government transparency advocate.
The Universities of Wisconsin employed about 6,000 more employees during the 2022-23 academic year than in the 1992-93 school year, despite serving a similar number of students, according to a recent analysis by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, a nonpartisan arm of the Legislature.
Gov. Tony Evers is making the rounds to pitch his funding proposal that could help keep some schools afloat amid budget struggles as he announced his 2025-27 budget will propose a more than $800 million increase for the Universities of Wisconsin.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday defended his promise to ask for at least an $855 million increase in funding for the Universities of Wisconsin during the next budget cycle.
