The gulf between Republican legislative leadership and the leadership of the Universities of Wisconsin is so deep and wide that it raises the question of whether compromise is possible.
UW President Jay Rothman (at left) has made a monster request for $855 million additional funding for the university’s 2025-2027 budget. That is about half a light year away from the budget developed under the leadership of Republican Speaker Robin Vos, who has asked for a reduction in the university budget of $87 million. They are obviously nowhere near being on the same page.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has sided with Rothman on his UW budget proposal. At the end of the day, though, the legislature establishes the budget for the state; the governor only proposes.
The governor does have the powerful line-item veto and used it to a fault in the last biennium by invoking miniscule language and numerical vetoes. They increased K-12 spending for an absurd 400 years. It may have looked clever at the time, but it sowed a level of distrust between him and the Republican legislative leaders that will be hard to overcome. Sen. Devin LeMahieu, Republican senate majority leader, has been outspoken about that breakdown in trust.
There are bold ways that Rothman and Gov. Evers could raise the kind of money they see as necessary for the health of the Universities system and earn back some trust:
- They could divest of UW Health and Quartz, its health insurance company, but keep its educational arm, UW Medical School. The university is in the education and research business, so keeping the medical school is consistent with its mission. But what is the UW doing in the hospital and health insurance businesses? Other universities have divested of their hospitals.
- Rothman was a merger and acquisition lawyer, so he should see the wisdom of divesting, not further investing, in the UW hospital in Rockford, Illinois. That facility is clearly outside UW’s mission.
- Those two divestitures could bring in more than a billion dollars, which is in the ballpark of what Rothman requested for the next biennium. It would be a one-time fix.
- The divestitures could demonstrate to the legislature, governor, and citizens that it is serious about streamlining its operations and about investing in the state’s health care and economy.
- For instance, the UW could start by taking public health in Wisconsin seriously, by addressing head-on public health issues where Wisconsin has slipped badly. We rank at the bottom of the states for child immunization: infant mortality rates for minority children are unacceptable; pro-active programs for the spread of bird flu and measles are wholly inadequate.
- University campuses have several thousand acres of excess land that could be sold off to accomplish UW’s larger goals. Regents took a first step in June by moving to sell excess and at UW – Oshkosh.
- The UW added more than 5000 administrative staff in a decade, while adding only a few positions for teaching and research. Reverse that pattern.
- In another strategic move, Rothman and the political leaders could orchestrate a
merger of the state’s two-year colleges. Because of declining enrollments, it makes sense to combine the remaining seven UW two-year colleges with the state’s two-year technical colleges. Six of the technical colleges already act like community colleges that offer a technology track for many careers and a baccalaureate track for professional careers. That consolidation has worked. Otherwise, if Rothman doesn’t get his money, he will probably close more of the two-year colleges. That has been his ham-handed modus operandi. - Everyone involved in economic development in Wisconsin, a state that lags the national averages on job growth, GDP growth and wages, knows that retention and attraction of highly talented people is job one. Why then has the University of Wisconsin – Madison, enrolled a majority of out-of-state students (albeit at higher tuitions)? Only 45% of its enrollment is Wisconsin students; it should be 75% at a minimum. Some 90% of non-resident graduates leave the state after graduation. Other universities, like Alabama, are poaching some of our brightest young people. Top ranking students, who would have considered Madison, opt to go to other elite universities. They may never come back. How dumb can we be?
- We need to treasure every young person in the state and design a customized personal education/career plan that is affordable – with scholarships — and motivates them to keep their talents here. It will require some investment in a bi-partisan way – sadly lacking in the current context.
On an emotional note, we all want our kids and grandkids close by. It’s a blessing when that happens.
It’s also a blessing for the long-term prosperity of the state.
