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3/4/2009
Bait and switch, Doyle-style
Question, question, question. Never ever ever assume you’ve got the whole story. Especially when you hear it from Governor Doyle.
What’s been the Achilles heel of the state budget the last 15 years? Easy answer - Governors and legislatures have used one-time money to fund ongoing expenditures. One big example in this year’s proposed budget, of course, is school aids – by far the largest piece of the general fund budget – where federal ‘stimulus’ dollars are filling a huge budget hole – a big huge red flag to budget watchers.
Here’s another one – one-time money to provide financial aid for the UW system. First, let’s look at Doyle bragging about it (from the text of Doyle’s Budget Address last month). Emphases are mine.
And, last, yet most important, we can show our commitment to education. Our universities and our schools have always been the engines that drive Wisconsin. My budget sees education as our most important function – education, again, is the one primary area that is receiving any increases.
I am making that choice because our schools have to remain accessible and they have to be able to prepare our students to compete with the world. More students will be able to attend our universities under the UW Growth Agenda. One of the few areas this budget increases is financial aid. Under my plan, families with incomes less than $60,000 will not face tuition increases. For those earning more, tuition increases will be modest and in line with what we have seen in recent years. Best of all, this budget makes sure that students will be going to cutting-edge institutions that continue to lead the world in medical technology and biotechnology research. We will move forward with major advancements. Ok. Here’s the rest of the story. From a LaCrosse Trib news article yesterday (emphases are mine):
Gov. Jim Doyle’s 2009-11 state budget includes a one-time transfer of $25 million from UW System school reserves to fund student financial aid. The system sorted out how schools would pay for the financial aid based on how much each had in reserve funds from user fees for residence halls, dining halls and other services.
UW-L had more than $20 million in reserve. Its $5.4 million share is more than twice as much as UW-Madison’s $2.1 million.
“It turns out we had been saving more money than any other campus,” said UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow. “I guess sometimes it doesn’t pay to save. ”
UW-L officials had planned to use the reserve funds for campus projects. Now they’ll delay spending $485,000 to replace 45-year-old plumbing in the Whitney Center dining hall; putting a new roof on four residence halls this summer, at a cost of $200,000 each; and repaving and adding lighting to campus parking lots. Damn. Always always always take what Governor Doyle has to say with an extra grain of salt. And this is the little stuff. Makes me ill. Question, question, question.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Shades of Bernie Madoff, if it looks like a Madoff, and smells like a Madoff, well, it must be a ".......", ya think?

Richard PArins (Thu Mar 12 22:50:18 2009)
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