By james art A study committee on the future of the University of Wisconsin system considered a long list of potential referrals On Thursday, it could go to the state Legislature, including separating UW-Madison from the UW System and introducing more oversight and restrictions.
The committee, which consists of 14 members, was tasked with creating legislative proposals to help address ongoing issues, including financial and enrollment issues, throughout the UW system. It was a meeting from July.
The current state of the UW System’s funding frames Thursday’s discussion. Committee co-chair Rep. Amanda Nedveski (R-Pleasant Prairie) called UW’s two-year budget request, which the state provides an additional $855 million in the next state budget an “unrealistic” increase from the current $1.3 billion in general purpose revenue.
The budget request, according to UW System leaders, would bring UW campuses to the middle of the pack in terms of state support for public universities nationwide. The additional funding will support a range of priorities, including 8 percent salary increases for UW staff over the biennium; general operations to help universities meet rising costs through state support rather than additional tuition dollars; mental health services, academic and career counseling and civil dialogue training; and investment in innovation.
According to an analysis by the Association of State Higher Education Executives (SHEEO), Wisconsin currently ranks 43rd out of 50 states in public funding to support its four-year universities.
Nedveski said that listing that information is “deliberately misleading” because it doesn’t take into account the funding the state puts into technical colleges. While Wisconsin lags behind when it comes to funding its four-year schools, the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS), where students can earn two-year associate degrees, one- and two-year technical diplomas, short-term technical diplomas and certificates, receives higher than usual funding per student compared to other public two-year colleges across the country.
Nedveski said it was unfair to blame taxpayers for the system’s financial shortcomings.
Sen. Chris Larson said Nedveski is trying to make Wisconsin’s funding reality look better by including technical colleges. He compared the move to attempting an average 5km pace on a marathon pace runner to qualify for a race.
“You can’t throw out technical college just to try to raise your GPA,” Larson said.
Larson noted that technical colleges operate differently than public four-year schools in that they report differently, have different levels of accountability and local boards, and may rely on property taxes in part for their funding.
The committee then turned to the proposed recommendations. Nedveski said the committee’s recommendations would signal that the Legislature needs to study the ideas further, not that the committee believes the Legislature is accepting the proposal.
Set UW-Madison apart from other schools
The first recommendation proposed was to separate UW-Madison from the twelve campuses of the UW System.
The proposal would create a new Board of Regents to oversee UW-Madison, while maintaining a separate Board of Regents to oversee the other comprehensive universities. Two separate state appropriations to provide general revenue (GPR) funding specific to UW-Madison and the other comprehensive universities in the UW system are also included in the proposal.
Robert Venable, president and CEO of Miami Corporation Management, said the Board of Regents, which could “just focus on the big picture, is actually more important in addressing these existential issues. Madison is not facing existential problems.”
During an earlier committee meeting last month, other committee members expressed support for the idea because it would help focus on declining enrollment and financial deficits at UW System schools.
This is not the first time the idea has been discussed. Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker made the proposal in 2011but the idea never gained the traction it needed to become law.
UW President Jay Rothman and UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin expressed opposition to the proposal after a committee meeting last month.
“Our universities are better together as they provide Wisconsin students with unprecedented educational opportunities in every corner of our state,” Rothman said in a statement. “At a time when we need to address all challenges in higher education holistically, adding more governance, complications and inefficiencies will not serve Wisconsin families and taxpayers well.”
Some ideas focused on requiring more oversight of the UW System, including by requiring more approval from the Joint Finance Committee.
One would direct the creation of a Wisconsin Higher Education Coordinating Council, to be appointed by the governor and subject to Senate confirmation, to advise the UW System and the Wisconsin Technical College System. He will be responsible for establishing statewide higher education goals, making recommendations to achieve those goals, reporting data, exploring areas of potential collaboration, and providing necessary prior approval before closing any campus.
Two recommendations focused on how the UW System allocates its general purpose revenue.
One would require the Board of Regents to publish the formula it uses to allocate state funding to each UW campus and revise it every two to five years. It also potentially involves the Joint Finance Committee approving the allocations.
Former UW System vice president for administration James Langdon described the allocation formula system as a “black box.”
“There has been a stunning lack of transparency when it comes to the distribution of GPRs … Campuses have suffered from this over the years,” Langdon said, adding that the formula is not being reviewed as closely as it should be.
The other proposal proposes that funding be prorated on a per capita or per FTE basis. It comes as some including UW-Green Bay Board of Trusteesstated that the current way of allocating funding is not clear and transparent.
Shauna Froelich, an associate professor at UW-Green Bay, said the current way funds are distributed has created an inequity in the system.
“There can be solidarity in saying we want to understand the formula, but we also want equality for students who are taxpayers,” Froelich said. “Just because you live in one region of our state, should you get double the funding? I think this is patently unfair. I understand that research institutions will need higher spending, and that may come through tuition, which may come through a special sum, possibly appropriated by the president.
Another proposal includes requiring the UW System to provide the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee with detailed information on the system’s spending during the budget cycle and an annual report to the Legislature that lists all current jobs and salaries.
Another proposal proposes limiting UW System job authority to positions and other non-academic positions that receive compensation of more than 200% of the state median income and requiring Joint Finance Committee approval of each position description and salary before posting
Venable said the final proposal was too close to micromanagement.
“It’s getting too tactical, too much in the micromanagement camp,” Venable said. “We need to rebuild trust, but I don’t think this is the right way to do it.”
Several of the proposed recommendations were raised by Nedveski. She said some of them were suggestions made by other people to her legislative office.
One of these proposed recommendations would create a “College of Applied Arts and Sciences” that would aim to give students a bachelor’s degree in three years.
“What if we had one college that didn’t have all the offerings, that had offerings that are in high demand and that can fill the skill gaps in our workforce, and there were no extras,” Nedveski said. “There is no athletics. There are no student services. No instructional support.”
Nedveski said the proposal would get to the “bare bones” of education spending and suggested it could be a 10-year pilot program.
UW La Crosse Chancellor Bestie Morgan said he doesn’t see how the proposal would add value.
“I’m not 100% sure. We don’t do that anymore,” Morgan said. “A student who wanted to complete an online degree at UW can easily do so and it’s much cheaper than Phoenix.”
Morgan also said that the services offered at universities are like taxes.
“We don’t often have to choose that we only want to support this and not that.” Universities are a bit like that. I may not want to support athletics, but I sure want that mental health counseling center,” Morgan said.
Another recommendation offered by Nedweski would require the UW System and technical colleges to have universal course numbering to ensure credit transfer and require UW System schools to admit liberal arts technical college graduates and waive requirements for general bachelor’s degree education.
Froelich, an associate professor at UW-Green Bay, raised an issue that was not included in the list of proposed recommendations. She said staff pay should reach average pay and that the issue should come up in the next budget.
Other suggested recommendations include:
- Tuition fee increase
- Granting the UW System and/or UW-Madison limited connection authority
- Establish a formalized process for completing exit interviews with undergraduate students
- Charge the Board of Regents with regular review and evaluation of program offerings within the UW System
- Establishing a Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Higher Education in Wisconsin
- Establishing the Office of the Student Loan Ombudsman in the Ministry of Financial Institutions and requiring the office to license student loan servicers
- Centralization of UW-Madison and UW System administration
- Establishing a regional governance model for the UW System
Committee members will vote on the proposed recommendations. Those receiving a majority vote of committee members will be included in a final report to be presented to the Joint Legislative Council.
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