A University of Wisconsin System regents committee overwhelmingly approved imposing employee furloughs Thursday as campuses grapple with the coronavirus pandemic’s economic fallout.
The University of Wisconsin System forecasts a $170 million financial hit for the spring semester alone, an estimate that will likely grow as campuses grapple with the broader economic fallout associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Skyrocketing unemployment, expected declines in tax revenue and other economic problems associated with the coronavirus crisis could spell trouble for Wisconsin’s public universities, which rely on state money to stay afloat.
University of Wisconsin President Ray Cross cautioned Thursday that the coronavirus outbreak that has already led to the suspension of all in-person spring classes could also force changes to the fall semester, which is scheduled to begin in August.
The University of Wisconsin System is continuing to monitor and recoup financial losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, which President Ray Cross said Thursday are only just beginning but already “significantly greater than anything I’ve seen in my 42 years of higher education.”
UW-Madison anticipates a $100 million loss because of the COVID-19 pandemic that has thrown its campus into chaos as dorms are emptied, classes moved online and students told to stay away.
In addition to the grant funds for alternatives to the youth prisons, the commission approved the following projects: Funding increase to complete the Babcock Hall Dairy Plant / Center for Dairy Research Addition and the Meat Science and Muscle Biology Laboratory projects at UW-Madison; construction of the Sellery Hall Addition and Renovation at UW-Madison.
The GOP proposal also would direct UW-Madison to compile a report on ways to best serve the state’s farmers and conduct research on technology specific to agriculture.
The UW System Board of Regents is eyeing a tuition increase in the next budget biennium, University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross told a legislative committee Wednesday.
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers would be permitted to request funding from the state to recover missing Wisconsin soldiers under a bill the state Senate overwhelmingly approved Tuesday.
The state Senate has approved a bill that would allow University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers to request hundreds of thousands of dollars to recover missing Wisconsin soldiers’ remains.
The Assembly this week is slated to attempt to override Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ veto of legislation that would reduce the number of required training hours needed to become a certified nursing assistant in Wisconsin, as well as vote on raises for unionized trades employees within the University of Wisconsin System.
Lawmakers approved a pay raise for state workers and University of Wisconsin System employees, though they again opted to scrap Gov. Tony Evers’ plan to implement a $15 minimum wage for Wisconsin employees during a Wednesday vote.
Lawmakers on a Republican-controlled legislative committee approved a state compensation plan Wednesday giving University of Wisconsin and state employees a 2% pay bump next year and in 2021.
A 2% pay raise in each of the next two years for University of Wisconsin and state employees were slated to be approved Wednesday by a Republican-controlled committee of legislative leaders.
The panel of legislative leaders is scheduled to meet Dec. 18 to act on the pay plans, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ office said Tuesday.
The state of Wisconsin, including UW-Madison, intends to increase the minimum wage for its hourly employees to $15 an hour, according to statements issued Friday by the university and Gov. Tony Evers.
The few hundred unionized trades employees tending to University of Wisconsin System campuses are still waiting for a legislative committee to consider raises the UW System Board of Regents approved six months ago.
Other items: Members of the committee also voted unanimously to release $1 million this year and nearly $8 million next year provided in the state budget for a UW System Dairy Innovation Hub housed at UW-Madison, UW-Platteville and UW-River Falls. Committee members also voted to release $22.5 million annually in performance-based funding to the UW System.
A legislative proposal pending in the Wisconsin Legislature is far from a light touch. It requires University of Wisconsin system colleges to adopt certain rules on free speech, including suspending for at least a semester students who have twice been found responsible for “interfering with the expressive rights of others.” Students who violate free speech policies three times must be expelled.
The bill would provide new funds to the UW Missing in Action Recovery and Identification Project, to assist with the recovery, identification and repatriation of Wisconsin MIA service members.
The bill has yet to be proposed in the Legislature. Murphy’s office said the bill has gathered bipartisan support since it started circulating the Legislature for sponsorship, with Reps. Samantha Kerkman, R-Salem; Mary Felzkowski, R-Irma; Timothy Ramthun, R-Campbellsport; and Shannon Zimmerman, R-River Falls; and Sens. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee; and Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville signing on.
Democratic lawmakers on Friday released a package of University of Wisconsin System bills that reflect many of the same priorities of campus leaders.
Since 2013 freezing tuition at the University of Wisconsin has been in place, but two Republican lawmakers said instead they want the UW Board of Regents to increase tuition and cap it each year no greater than the rate of inflation.
Increases in how much students pay to attend University of Wisconsin campuses would be tied to the rate of inflation under a new bill that seeks to lay the groundwork for ending a near decade-long tuition freeze.
One Republican state representative is championing legislation that would set up a contingency plan if Wisconsin’s freeze on in-state undergraduate tuition goes away — a move he says could alter the discussion about lifting the freeze going forward.
Two Republican lawmakers aim to restrict how much the University of Wisconsin System can increase tuition if and when the undergraduate resident tuition freeze set to enter its seventh year is lifted.
The budget provides less than half of what the UW asked for and what they asked for wasn’t enough to sustain the System’s capacity to educate students.
UW System President Ray Cross also issued this statement: “The budget passed by the legislature makes a significant long-term investment in our campus infrastructure that will benefit students, our faculty, and the state for years to come … I also thank Governor Evers for his steadfast commitment to the University of Wisconsin System during the budget process, and everyone who continues to advocate for a strong UW System budget.”
The $81 billion state budget the Republican-run Legislature is approving this week includes $8.8 million for research on dairy farming at UW-Madison, UW-Platteville and UW-River Falls. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is expected to — and should — issue partial vetoes to improve the Republican-proposed budget. But he should leave the Dairy Innovation Hub intact.
Noted: Their budget would give an additional $58 million to University of Wisconsin schools, about half of what Evers wanted.
The GOP budget also falls short of Evers’ proposal for the UW System. UW System campuses over the next two years would gain about $45 million under the GOP plan, about half of what Evers and System officials wanted.
Education funding: The budget includes an almost $500 million increase in K-12 investments — $900 million less than what Evers sought — and around $58 million in funding for the University of Wisconsin System, some $70 million less than what the governor wanted.
A second Republican state senator said Thursday that he would vote against Wisconsin’s state budget, giving Republicans a razor-thin margin to pass the plan without help from Democrats.
The new president of the board overseeing Wisconsin’s public universities will likely not move to undo any major changes spearheaded by his predecessors.
Wisconsin lawmakers are set to take up an $81.5 billion two-year spending plan this month that was written by Republicans but shaped by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
Wisconsin Republicans have rewritten Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ state budget in the past few weeks, pushing it through the Joint Finance Committee they control last week to set up floor votes in the full Legislature.
In the battle over the 2019-’21 state budget, faculty salaries for the University of Wisconsin System have made for their own skirmish.
The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature is rejecting the voters’ message. They are cutting the budget requests to fund our public schools and the UW.
The Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget committee on Tuesday voted to approve about $1.9 billion for state building projects, with about half earmarked for upgrades and renovations at University of Wisconsin System buildings, many of which have gone without repairs for years.
Republican lawmakers Tuesday approved $1.9 billion in construction projects and building improvements across the state — with more than half being spent on University of Wisconsin System campuses, approving the vast majority of what Gov. Tony Evers wanted for colleges and universities.
The Legislature’s state budget committee voted Tuesday evening to approve $1.9 billion for state construction projects, including more than $1 billion for University of Wisconsin System projects.
There are two worlds in the chemistry labs at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The first, in an aged and worn building, students and faculty make do with what they have: rows of tables that hinder collaboration, outdated fume hoods, chipping woodwork and spots of corrosion.
Summary of legislature’s budget plan for UW: The UW System would get $58 million, $45 million of which would only be released after lawmakers approve of how the university intends to spend it. That’s far less than university officials expected after weeks of discussions with lawmakers, below the $60 million cost-to-continue and short of the $150 million Evers proposed. Republicans did agree with Evers’ call to continue the tuition freeze, already in its sixth year, for at least two more years.
Evers is still pushing to save priorities that have been killed, including more money for K-12 schools, the University of Wisconsin System and expanding Medicaid.
University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross said employers in Wisconsin are “screaming” for more talent offered by graduates from state campuses as he continued his pitch for more investment in state higher education.
University of Wisconsin System leaders on Tuesday urged lawmakers to stop “kicking the can down the road” and support their unprecedented financial request to renovate and repair aging campus buildings.
The Republicans on the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee, who hold a 12-4 majority because of arcane legislative rules, have been making a mockery of the state’s political process as they go through the budget recommendations made by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. If Evers likes it, throw it out. If there’s something he doesn’t like, put it in.
Republican legislators on Tuesday rejected Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed $130 million state funding increase for the University of Wisconsin System, a move that system leadership likened to a kick in the shins.
Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, expressed concerns that this amount of money wouldn’t cover increasing costs and would damage the UW System.
University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross says he feels like he’s been “kicked in the shins” after Republicans who control the Legislature’s budget committee approved spending $69 million less on UW than Gov. Tony Evers proposed.
Cross said he had been told up until last week Thursday that the system’s budget ask was reasonable, adding he was shocked by the committee’s action. “The Legislature missed an opportunity to meet the future needs of this state,” he said. “I just can’t get over that. This was a great opportunity for them. We are the solution for a lot of the problems the state has.”
The Republican-controlled state budget-writing committee extended a tuition freeze for undergraduate residents attending University of Wisconsin campuses over the next two academic years.
The budget committee is planning to meet again next Tuesday, when members are expected to vote on budgets from the University of Wisconsin System and Department of Natural Resources, among others.
The correctional pay raise includes the 2 percent increases that would also be awarded to other state workers, as well as UW System employees. Those payments would be doled out on Jan. 1, 2020, and Jan. 1, 2021.
Advocates for K-12 schools and the University of Wisconsin System were optimistic Tuesday that Republicans will spend more money on education, but they don’t know how much to expect other than something less than what Democratic Gov. Tony Evers proposed.
Republicans on the state’s budget-writing committee approved a 2% annual wage increase for most state employees Tuesday, plus a 14% boost to the minimum wage for state prison employees.
UW System president’s column: An investment in UW System will help us continue these successes and generate more graduates — especially in high-need areas such as nursing, engineering, business, computer science, information technology and data science. Across the System, our campuses have plans to expand these vital areas through our 2019-21 state budget capacity-building initiatives.
Sen. Howard Marklein and Rep. Travis Tranel are sponsoring a bill that would give the University of Wisconsin System $7.9 million fund annually to create and fund the UW Dairy Innovation Hub at UW-Madison, UW-Platteville and UW-River Falls.
Chris Taylor, Shelia Stubbs talk transportation, campus renovations, housing, university funding.
