Two of the top administrators at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville say that Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget cuts will not deter the university and its staff from delivering high-quality education. UW-Platteville will have to cut programs, staff and departments to accommodate the cuts, due to the fact that the university ranks near the bottom for state support among  the Universtiy of Wisconsin System four-year institutions.
Aside from the Department of Health Services and the Department of Public Instruction, the UW System ranks third in All Funds Appropriations for the governor’s recommendations at 17.56 percent of the total state budget.

The state of Wisconsin operates on a $34.3 billion budget according to the 2013-2015 Executive Budget. The majority of that budget is allocated to General Purpose Revenues at 45 percent or about $15.5 billion. Following General and Categorical School Aids and Medical Assistance and Related Programs, the UW System ranks third in money allocation within the GPR category receiving 7.9 percent of the state’s GPR total.
Over the next two years, the UW System will have to readjust its budget toward a reduction of $300 million. According to an email from UW-Platteville Chancellor Dennis J. Shields, it is anticipated that UW-Platteville’s share of the proposed budget will be between $2 and $5 million annually.
At a forum held on March 10 Shields said that the university has been conducting student and academic meetings regularly to figure out how the university’s budget will accommodate the possible $5 million cut allocated to the university. Shields that the $5 million cut is the structural deficit, the first of a series of two cuts, the second of which will be given to UW-Platteville as a percentage of Walker’s $300 million overall cut to the UW System.
In the most recent email from Shields, he stated that there would be three phases of “reductions and revenue enhancements” with the first phase addressing $4.4 million of the $10 million target.
Ten years ago, under Gov. Jim Doyle, the UW System faced similar, but more extensive reductions. According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the proposed base budget reductions for 2003-2005 were $250 million, or an amount roughly equivalent to $712 million today.
According to 2014-2015 UW System Redbook, out of the 13 four-year universities, UW-Platteville received the fifth least amount of dollars from the state at $188 million. UW-Madison ranks first by over $1 billion more than the second highest funded university, which is UW-Milwaukee at $704 million.
Dean of the College of BILSA, Wayne Weber, said the first option to compensate for university budget cuts would be to raise tuition, but Walker has placed a tuition freeze over the universities from 2015-2017, barring them from the increase.
“These kinds of cuts have happened in the past,” Shields said. “They came with significant rises in tuition, which sort of offset the loss of state support.”
So where will the money reduction come from?
“If you’re freezing tuition then we’re not able to meet our cost to continue,” Weber said. “We go $5 million in the hole for 2015-16 so what do we have to do? We have to start laying people off.”
Weber said that as of now there are 52 positions in the UW-Platteville budget that will be cut following the July 1 wave of the $5 million reduction.
It is not just the cutting of 52 positions that will affect the university, but also the inability to pay professors a competitive salary.
“You have to pay people at a salary that is competitive, you are talking people with [doctorates] who were in higher education for anywhere from eight to 12 years before they got their first professional paycheck. That’s investment over that time and these are experts in those fields,” Weber said. “For me, I want my three kids to learn from the best. You have to pay these professors at a competitive level and [the budget cuts] make this more and more difficult.”
An article written in the Green Bay Press Gazette titled “Walker open to extending tuition” explains how Walker and the legislature are open to discussion and possible reduction in cuts. Walker is quoted in the article saying, “I don’t have a specific proposal. I’m willing to work with lawmakers on it.”
Even with the hope that the reduction in the UW System budget won’t be as extensive as initially reported, Weber said that each institution will face difficult decisions. As for UW-Platteville, Weber said that programs that were growing will remain stagnant and programs that were stagnant may need to be cut.
“The question I think over the next two years is what things do we want to make sure we keep doing well and what things we want to stop doing. Probably focusing on fewer programs both academic and non-academic as part of it,” Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services, Robert G. Cramer, said.
UW-Platteville Information and Communications Director Paul Erickson said that whatever happens within the university, he wants to make sure the message is transparent.
“It is a difficult message to manage. The one thing the chancellor and all the staff are trying to manage is maintaining the least amount of impact on the students,” Erickson said. “The No. 1 priority is to provide the same high quality education we have provided for nearly 150 years.”
In an article published in the Wisconsin State Journal with the headline “Scott Walker acknowledges considering more autonomy for UW System” Walker stated in reference to schools within the UW System that, “The bottom line is that they’ve said for many, many years, long before I was governor, that when you look at things like purchasing, procurement, building and other things like that, that they would be able to get more bang for their buck if they had greater control.”
Erickson said, “When you’re cutting $150 million a year out of the UW System budget it’s hard to see the strengths.”
Shields said that one thing UW-Platteville will do is raise the tuition for Tri-State Initiative students by $600. This is projected to generate  $900,000 in additional revenues and is expected to surpass total support from the state, bringing in $15 million.
While the state chooses not to spend 300 million of its dollars on public higher education, the UW System and its 180,000 students and over 39,000 faculty and staff members will continue their pursuit of knowledge with whatever funds the state allocates to them.
“As an institution our highest priorities are the student. It always has been and it always will be,” Weber said. “We are going to do whatever we can to deliver a high quality education no matter what.”