My posting on Wednesday on the reductions in state funding of UW was incorrect. I relied on a number of news accounts (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, WSJ, etc.) for the information. Now, having read Vice Chancellor Bazzell’s memo, it is clear that the cuts will be far worse than originally reported.
To recap, news accounts in all major media initially stated that the UW-System would be subject to about $65 million in cuts over the biennium as a part of an overall state budget reduction of $174 million. (UW-Madison’s share of the reduction would be $24.6 million.) The Dept of Administration, which apportions the cuts, did not explain why UW would shoulder 37% of the reduction despite the fact that it constitutes only 7% of the state budget.
Today, the other shoe dropped. The other shoe in this instance is the probable loss of $111 million over the biennium; our share of an overall budget reduction of $300 million. Madison’s loss would be $42.6 million. This loss alone could not be “made up” if tuition for every student was increased $1000/ year. This is, of course, in addition to the $250 million loss to the System (and Madison) in the budget passed last summer. In contrast, aid to local government ($1.9 billion) is only nicked ($3 million) as is aid to K-12 education, the biggest item in the budget. Under the “$300 million scenario”, the UWS would still lose a disproportionate share of its state funding at a ratio of 5:1.
While the budget reduction of $300 million has not been ordered, agencies have been told to prepare for the loss. The reduction will be ordered if tax revenues do not increase in the next few months.
Under the $300 million reduction scenario, the Dept of Corrections would reduce its budget by $23 million or 1.4%. This would result in the UW receiving 6.7% of the state budget and the Dept of Corrections receiving 6.8%. The trend lines have crossed.
| UW System | |||
| Budget | % of Total State Budget | % of Agency Budget | |
| Before Cut | $2,095,251,600 | 7.2% | |
| Cut | $163,900,000 | 7.8% | |
| After Cut | $1,931,351,600 | 6.7% | |
| Department of Corrections | |||
| Budget | % of Total State Budget | % of agency budget | |
| Before Cut | $1,994,614,400 | 6.9% | |
| Cut | $27,924,602 | 1.4% | |
| After Cut | $1,966,689,798 | 6.8% | |
DMA