ONLINE: PROFS State Budget Forum

media release: PROFS will host a virtual forum to discuss the 2021-23 state budget at noon, Friday, May 7. This event is open to the public, but registration is required (below).

The panel:

• State Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-West Point), member Joint Finance Committee
• State Senator Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield), member Joint Finance Committee
• Jason Stein, Research Director at the Wisconsin Policy Forum

Professor Susan Yackee, director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs, will moderate.

Governor Tony Evers introduced a strong higher education budget, exceeding the UW System request by almost $100 million, but Republican leaders have said they plan to create their own budget in the Joint Finance Committee.

Evers’ proposal included the following:

• $190 million in new funding for UW System, including more than $50 million to fully fund the continuing freeze on in-state undergraduate tuition.
• $40 million over two years in unrestricted funding to address student needs and budget losses due to COVID-19.
• Borrowing authority that will give UW System the ability borrow funds for short-term academic and athletic expenses, long-sought budget tool that UW-Madison peers already have.
• Expansion of Bucky’s Tuition Promise to all UW System institutions, along with significant increases in other financial aid programs.
• $2 million for 15 additional county-based UW-Extension positions and 5 climate science research positions.

The governor also introduced a $2.4 billion capital budget, which includes almost $1 billion for UW System, but his proposal was deadlocked in the State Building Commission, leaving the Republican-led Joint Finance Committee to determine the capital budget.

UW-Madison has four major projects in Evers’ proposal:

• $88 million for a new College of Letters and Science building to replace the aging Mosse Humanities Building.
• $150 million for the first phase of a new College of Engineering building to replace the 82-year-old Computer Aided Engineering Center.
• $26 million for the restoration of the 140-year-old Music Hall.
• $73 million for underground utility work on the Engineering campus, an area prone to damaging floods

The Academic Staff Professionals Representation Organization (ASPRO) and the La Follette School of Public Affairs are cosponsors.

Forum Registration A Zoom link will be emailed to you the week of the event.