Observations
By UW System President Katharine C. Lyall

Funding the state's future

Since Gov. Jim Doyle introduced his budget in February—a spending plan that contains the deepest cuts in state funding ever proposed for the University of Wisconsin System—I have been heartened by public, editorial and legislative support for the university.

A budget is a roadmap to the future. And in that light, Wisconsin's future remains uncharted.

When all was said and done, the governor proposed about $658 million in actual state spending cuts over the next biennium, with 38 percent of those cuts coming from the university's budget—even though the UW comprises less than 9 percent of state spending.

Under this proposal, which comes in the wake of past cuts to the university, the UW would lose more than 15 percent of its state support, while overall state spending for the biennium would actually grow by 1.3 percent.

Enrollments across the UW System are pressing record highs. Now is the time to invest more in the university, not less, and certainly not disproportionately less.

The UW System expects to do its fair share to close the deficit. But this budget threatens quality education for all our students and for all those K-12 students around the state who aspire to have a UW education.

Although the governor has proposed tuition increases to fill in for some of the cut in state support, the university still will be left with a $100 million hole in its budget.

Since 99 cents of every state dollar the UW System receives goes directly to our campuses, these cuts will be felt quite dramatically at the local level-by our students, by our employees and by the communities in which our campuses are located. It is wishful thinking to believe that we can have high access, low tuition and top quality with continued erosion of state funding.

From a purely pragmatic viewpoint, these cuts will be costly to the state's future—the UW System produces 28,000 graduates a year, the vast majority of whom stay in Wisconsin and contribute to the economy; our faculty and staff work directly with state businesses and communities to foster economic development; for every state dollar spent by the university, we generate $9.50 in economic activity and return 40 cents to the state treasury in sales and income tax revenue. All of these economic levers are at risk with the magnitude of the cuts proposed.

We appreciate the hard choices facing the governor and legislature, and we are prepared to make hard choices, too. But we must urge state leaders to renew their commitment to public higher education and once again, make it a state priority.

These cuts are not about some abstraction called the "UW System." They are about the hopes and dreams of our children and grandchildren. In their education rests not only their own happiness and fulfillment but also the state's economic future.

Where will the nurses, teachers, business owners, pharmacists, mayors, doctors and researchers of the future come from? In large measure, they will come from University of Wisconsin System campuses throughout the state—we must ensure they do.