Regardless of what political party you stand for, I think we can all agree that the recent budget cuts proposed by Governor Scott Walker are going to have a huge impact on public higher education in Wisconsin. For those of you who are not aware, Walker has proposed to cut 300 million dollars from public universities in Wisconsin over the course of the next two years. The Cap Times reported that this would be the largest cut in the history of the UW system. According to Chancellor Joe Gow, this means that UW-La Crosse specifically will take a cut of $12 million. With tuition frozen for the next two years as well, it appears that UW-L, along with all other UW colleges, is facing a major budget crisis.
Wisconsin is known across the nation as one of the most affordable states to attend college in. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, a national magazine, has recently named UW-L No. 4 on its list of the 25 Best College Values Under 30,000 a Year. The beauty of UW-L is that it is able to offer a nationally renowned education for an affordable price. We currently have a 19-1 student faculty ratio. This ability to provide small class sizes is one of the major draws to the university. I am from Illinois and I can personally say that this ratio was a strong reason that I decided to attend UW-L. However, with the new proposed budget cut, this feature of UW-L is at threat.
Chancellor Joe Gow sent out an email stating, “because we know it is our faculty and staff, rather than just our buildings and equipment, that make this such an outstanding university, we’ll strive to avoid laying off any current employees.” While Chancellor Gow says he will strive to avoid laying off employees, any realistic person has to think that this major cut in funding will undoubtedly lead to a reduction in staff. The money has to come from somewhere; cuts will have to be made.
This cut in funding, whether it leads to layoffs or not, is detrimental to the UW system. Education should be valued and supported in our modern society. The U.S. is currently ranked 36th in the world when it comes to public education. While this statistic looks at international test scores for public high school students, it is relevant here to show that the U.S. is seriously slacking when it comes to public education. This low ranking means we should be working to invest and better our public education system instead of cutting funds and pushing it off to the side like last week’s paper.
This attack on public education is interesting when combined with Gov. Walker’s plan to finance a new Milwaukee Buck’s stadium. Gov. Walker plans to increase income tax on NBA players with the goal of generating 220 million dollars to go toward building a new stadium. This will not raise taxes for all other citizens of Wisconsin and is a very creative way of generating revenue. My question is, why was such a creative plan devised for the Milwaukee Bucks and such a devastating plan devised for the education system? Gov. Walker put creative energy into figuring out how he could raise money for the Milwaukee Bucks while simultaneously cutting money from the education system. What does this say about Walker’s values? Any logical person has to question why Walker would promote entertainment over education. Entertainment is a distraction from reality while education pushes one to change reality. I will leave you to ponder these facts on your own and draw your own conclusions.
Gov. Walker’s budget is still in its proposal stage and must be approved by the state assembly before it becomes official. However, Wisconsin’s State Assembly is currently made up of 63 Republican representatives and only 36 Democrat representatives. While it is unfair to assume that all Republicans will support this proposal, it is fair to say that this proposal embodies many Republican beliefs (decrease public taxes and increase private responsibility) and will therefore be likely to pass with this makeup of the State Assembly. If higher public education is something you value, I urge you to make your beliefs known to your local representatives and to believe in your own voice.