The WI Council on Physical Disabilities met for their quarterly meeting on Thursday, July 18 in Madison. Jeff Buhrandt, Senior Director for State Relations, joined the council as a UW System liaison. Among the topics of discussion were updates on Technology Accessibly Efforts at UW campuses as well as Academic Student support efforts for providing accommodations to online students. If you have any campus updates that should be shared with the Council, please contact Jeff Buhrandt. The next Council meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 24, 2019.

We recently heard from legislative leaders that the Joint Finance Committee may meet in July and August, which means the UW will likely try to submit the plan necessary to access the $45 million, as well as the funding for the Dairy Hub, in the Joint Finance supplemental appropriation in August. Originally, we did not expect the committee to convene until September.

The All Agency Request by Governor Evers was fully funded –except for the Energy Conservation program which was reduced by $50M. The Governor’s office has not yet issued funding target memos to all the state agencies, which means we do not know the amount assigned to the UW for FY2019-21 All Agency funding; a timeline for release of the memo has yet to be determined.

Work has begun on developing draft design budgets for the Minor Facilities Program and the Instructional Space Program as there is a need to identify design dollars before the projects can proceed. The DOA has not offered any Building Trust Fund (BTF)for design at this time. A summary of the program and the individual projects within the Minor Facilities Program and the Instructional Space Program can be found in the PDF below.

UW System Statement on governor’s budget signing

This past week, the State Relations team met with Provosts and Senior Student Affairs Officers to give them an update on the state budget as well as an update on pending legislation. Both groups had great questions and had good conversations regarding these issues. If there are any other groups on your campus that you would like the State Relations team to provide updates to, please feel free to make a request.

In an update on the 2019-21 Capital Budget, Associate Vice President Alex Roe told Regents that despite several project not being approved, the overall capital budget was “fabulous.” She said it was a “full court press” effort at the Capitol involving Chancellors from every institution as well as other staff at the institutional and System level that produced the largely successful budget.

The Regents also approved the following projects:

• UW Madison: Approved request for authority to execute the remainder of the design contract and construct the UW-managed Red Gym Renovation project for $2 million Gift/Grant funds. All work on the building, which was constructed in 1894 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, will be coordinated with the Wisconsin Historical Society;
• UW-Madison: Approved request to enter into a lease of space for the Division of Information Technology that will provide office space for a unit of DoIT that does not need to be physically located on-campus. The move would create critical office space for new Computer Sciences staff who are expected to start work next fall;
• UW System: Approved request to construct two 2017-19 Classroom Renovation/Instructional Technology Improvement Program projects for an estimated total cost of $1.7 million, one at UW-Oshkosh and one at UW-Stevens Point. The funding will be utilized to update existing general assignment classroom and laboratory instructional environments including associated furnishings and equipment to improve instructional technology;
• UW System: Approved request for authority to construct four All Agency Maintenance and Repair projects at an estimated cost of $5.6 million. Projects include UW-River Falls’ University Center entry and terrace renovation; UW-Stout’s Price Commons kitchen hood replacement; and heating plant fuel reliability upgrades at both UW-La Crosse and UW-Oshkosh;
• UW System: Approved request to rescind and remove Regent Policy Document 19-7, “Development of Facilities in the University of Wisconsin Colleges,” because the policy is obsolete due to the recent restructuring of UW System; and
• UW Oshkosh: Approved request for authority to rename its campuses: University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Fond du Lac campus; University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Fox Cities campus; and University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Oshkosh campus.

July 11, 2019 Capital Planning and Budget Committee Materials

The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents unanimously voted to approve a $6.382 billion annual operating budget for 2019-20 at its meeting Thursday in Madison.

In introducing the budget, UW System President Ray Cross reiterated the need to use every dollar wisely and in ways that serve students, faculty, and campus communities.

Cross identified three key takeaways of the annual budget:

• The amount and format of State/GPR funding will be defined by a plan approved by the Board of Regents and then presented to Joint Finance. This process has not been used previously.
• Resident undergraduate tuition is frozen for the seventh consecutive year for four-year institutions and for the 11^th time in 13 years for two-year campuses.
• Typical cost of attendance for an in-state student living on campus will increase by 0.9% at UW System’s 4-year institutions and by 0.8% at the two-year campuses.

• See UW System PowerPoint presentation on the 2019-20 Annual Budget

“Preserving the quality of a UW education as tuition remains frozen will require operational investments by the state and our federal partners,” Cross said. “Pursuing additional operational investments will continue to be a priority for the UW System.”

“We need to continue to have the dialogue on the importance of reinvestment in the UW System so we are not diluting the quality of a UW education,” said Regent President Drew S. Petersen. “I would challenge this board and everyone in this room to make this case.”

Other budget highlights:

• Total segregated fees will increase at 4-year institutions by an average $36 per year (2.7%)
• Room and board rates will increase at 4-year institutions by an average $105 per year (1.4%)
• Unrestricted program revenue balances continue to decline.

More than 100 people attended the Wisconsin Policy Forum Viewpoint Luncheon: The State Budget’s Focus on Education: Meeting the Need or Over the Top? on Tuesday, May 21, 2019. The event explored the state of education in Wisconsin as framed by the Governor’s budget proposal. Senior Researcher Anne Chapman provided the Forum’s take on the education components of the proposed budget, followed by a panel of education experts and leaders, including UW System’s Senior Director for State Relations, Jeff Buhrandt. A full recap of the luncheon including WisconsinEye’s video and photos of the event can be found here.

The State Building Commission took action on a number of UW System projects this week, including allowing UW-Parkside to begin construction on Wylie Hall. You can find Associate Vice President of Capital Planning and Budget Alex Roe’s summary of the commission’s actions in the PDF below. The next commission meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 7th.

Both houses of the Wisconsin State Legislature approved the 2019-21 State Budget, and now it awaits action by the Governor. No major changes were made to what the Joint Finance Committee approved earlier relating to the UW System. Several items were changed during the negotiations between the two houses, and you can find a summary of those changes here. The Governor indicated he plans to act on the budget by next week. Visit the Wisconsin State Legislature web page for more information on the 2019-21 State Budget.

On June 17^th, UW-Stout Dean of Students, Sandi Scott, and UW-Parkside Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Enrollment Services, Tammy McGuckin, were invited to present to the Speaker’s Task Force on Suicide Prevention in Ripon on the state of student behavioral health across the UW System. This presentation was similar to the one they gave to the Board of Regents at the April meeting. We are in communication with Rep. Ballweg’s office, who is chairing the committee, and we will inform everyone if the committee has recommendations related to higher education. You can watch it here.