Budget funds Madison Initiative

The university will receive much of what it asked for in the state budget for various programs and projects over the next two years.

According to the governor’s office, higher education budget provisions will:

• Provide $77.5 million in new tax money to the UW System, including $38 million to support initiatives for Madison and Milwaukee campuses and to make systemwide investments that will expand enrollments in information technology and biotechnology.
• Authorize the UW–Madison BioStar initiative and $317 million in general fund supported borrowing over 10 years to attract federal and private funds for construction of biological sciences education and research activities.
• Provide $6.4 million in tax money to the Higher Educational Aids Board and the UW System to increase need-based financial aid programs.
• Provide a 10 percent increase in funding for the minority precollege scholarship program for middle and high school students to participate in challenging academic programs at Wisconsin’s public and private colleges and universities.
• Provide $500,000 to the Medical School for the purchase of a digital mammography machine.
• Authorize the Board of Regents to use base funding to create taxpayer-funded faculty and academic staff positions.

Next, the state will consider how much to pay university employees.

The UW Board of Regents has requested a 2.1 percent pay increase, retroactive to July 1, for all non-represented classified staff, academic staff and faculty. The recommendation includes another 2.1 percent increase Jan. 1, 2002.

Later this fall, the state Department of Employee Relations will submit its recommendation to the legislature’s joint committee on employee relations for approval.