After seven hours of debate and a near party-line vote, the Republican-controlled State Assembly passed its version of the 2007-09 biennial budget on Tuesday, July 10.

The proposal differs sharply from that passed by the Democrat-controlled State Senate in late June. The Senate’s budget adopted Governor Doyle’s pro-public education budget proposal that emerged largely intact from the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee.

Assembly Democrat Leader Rep. Jim Kreuser (D – Kenosha) said the Assembly Republican’s budget can be described in a single word – “fewer.” Fewer teachers, fewer fire fighters, fewer children with health care, fewer environmental protections and fewer hopes for Wisconsin’s future, he said.

Senator Bob Jauch (D – Poplar) suggests that the Assembly Republicans have used the state budget process to punish political opponents.

“[Assembly Republicans] are getting even with citizens who don’t share their conservative political views,” said Jauch. “The state budget is a serious blueprint that must meet the needs of the entire state, yet Republican lawmakers have deliberately targeted citizens in Democratic areas as less worthy of services and attention.”

The budget is, without a doubt, the most harmful budget to the technical colleges in recent memory.

In total, Assembly Republicans budget guts the technical college base funding by $14.2 million over the biennium - $7.1 million annually – and deletes every dollar of new technical college funding proposed in budgets developed by the Governor and the Senate Democrats.

State aid

General state aid, which has now fallen to a mere 15% of total WTCS revenues, is cut by 3% or $3.6 million annually.

The cut in general state aid would have a devastating impact on technical college budgets. And state aid is not distributed proportionately across the state. Some districts get a proportionately larger share of state aid than others. For example, in 2005-06 general state aid made up 22% of all revenues at Western Wisconsin and only 3% at Nicolet. This means the cut in general state aid will impact districts – and students at those districts – much differently.

 The following table shows a district-by-district estimate of the annual cut in general state aid under the Assembly Republicans’ budget.

Estimated 2007-08 General State Aid Cut
Under Assembly Republicans’ Budget

Additional base reductions

Base budget cuts also include:

• 62% reduction to the displaced homemaker program ($507,000 annually)
• 30% reduction to the WTCS incentive grant program ($1.9 million annually)
• 20% reduction to WTCS State Office operations ($665,000 annually)
• 20% reduction to faculty development grants ($159,000 annually)
• 20% reduction in supplemental aid ($284,700 annually)

Property tax freeze

The Assembly Republicans’ budget imposes a levy limit on technical college districts.  Technical college levies would be prohibited from increasing by more than the 5-year rolling average of the percentage change in statewide equalized property valuation due to new construction.  For 2007-08, the levy limit is estimated at approximately 3.2%.

The limit applies to both the operational levy and the debt levy. Districts could exceed the levy limit only through referendum.

The property tax freeze leaves districts without the option of offsetting the cut in general state aid by increasing levies.

Veteran’s tuition remission

The veterans’ tuition remission program (100% tuition waiver for veterans and eligible dependents) is left intact. However, the Assembly Republicans delete $11.6 million in funding for the program provided in the Senate Democrats’ version of the state budget. This funding is needed to “backfill” the tuition revenue that is lost by providing veterans with the tuition waiver.

The Assembly Republican budget therefore leaves the technical colleges with a gaping unfunded mandate. The colleges will have to provide services to hundreds of veterans, yet they will receive no tuition or state funding. As a result, under the Assembly Republican budget, the colleges would be left with two equally bad options: cut programs or increase tuition for students that don’t receive the waiver.

Workforce Advancement Training grants

The Assembly Republicans’ budget deletes the proposed funding increase for the Workforce Advancement Training grant program. The program provides Wisconsin businesses with targeted workforce development grants to use for incumbent worker training at the technical colleges. The Senate Democrats’ version of the budget proposed increasing funding by $3.0 million; the Governor proposed expanding the program by $6.0 million.

Tuition increase

While the Assembly Republican budget caps tuition increases for UW students, it imposes a massive tuition increase on technical college students enrolled in liberal arts transfer programs (available at MATC-Milwaukee; MATC-Madison; Nicolet; and soon Chippewa Valley). Currently, state law mandates that liberal arts programs recover at least 31% of their operating costs through tuition.  The Assembly Republican budget increases that percentage to at least 42% in 2008-09 and at least 50% in 2009-10 and every year thereafter. 

All else equal, this translates to a 35% tuition increase in 2008-09 and an additional 19% increase in 2009-10!  Tuition increases could be substantially higher if total operational costs increase from year to year.

Financial Aid

The Governor’s version of the 2007-09 state budget provides a modest increase ($1.3 million) for the Wisconsin Higher Education Grant program for WTCS students (WHEG-WTCS). The Senate Democrats followed suit, providing that same amount in their version of the budget. However, the Assembly Republicans delete every dollar of the proposed funding increase, leaving funding for the state’s main need-based financial aid grant program at base levels. So, while technical college tuition is anticipated to increase by over 5% in 2007-08, the Assembly Republicans’ spending blueprint provides no additional state financial aid.

English as a Second Language

The Assembly Republicans’ budget deletes the current law provision that prohibits the WTCS from charging tuition for English as a second language courses and require the WTCS State Board to establish fees for such programs.

Enterprise centers

Under the Assembly Republicans’ budget, the technical colleges would be prohibited from using property tax revenue or state aid for the operation of an enterprise center - e.g. bookstore, daycare center, cafeteria.

It is now up to a bipartisan conference committee of Senate and Assembly leaders to reconcile the huge gulf between the separate versions of the state budget passed by the two houses. The Senate budget spends $66 billion, while the Assembly Republicans’ budget spends $56 billion. Closing this $10 billion gap will be long, difficult work and will likely not be complete until well into the fall. Until legislative leaders negotiate a budget settlement, the state will continue operating with base budget assumptions in place.