The state of Wisconsin is, apparently, on the move.
In the annual State of the State address Wednesday evening, Gov. Jim Doyle highlighted Wisconsin's progress and optimistic future regarding agriculture, child care, health care, minimum wage and education. Regarding education, however, Doyle dropped a part of his speech that promised to give the UW System and its financial aid a larger increase in state money than the corrections system in his budget to be revealed next month.
A section of a prepared text that was handed out to the media before Doyle's speech read, \For the first time in more than 10 years, the budget I will submit to you next month will add more state money to the UW and financial aid than to the corrections budget.""
In Doyle's last budget, the UW System received $1.9 billion in state aid for a two-year period-a decrease of $170.9 million from his previous budget. The state gave the Department of Corrections $1.7 billion-an increase of $53.9 million from the previous budget.
Though Doyle dropped that section of his speech, Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, does not believe the omission is significant.
""I was at the governor's residence last night following his speech and the part of the speech he dropped was discussed,"" Black said. ""An aide said that he backed off that part because the number-crunching was not finished, and he wanted it to be exact if it was a hard-number guarantee. I'm guessing he will actually come out with hard numbers in a month when he introduces the budget. He was just cautious now because it would get a lot of attention.""
In a statement released Wednesday night, UW System President Kevin Reilly said he was glad to hear Gov. Doyle's commitment to the UW System by reversing negative funding trends of recent years and increasing financial aid for the neediest students.
""I was heartened tonight to hear Gov. Doyle's intention to reinvest in the University of Wisconsin System. ... I hope he and the Legislature will work together to sustain the UW System ... efforts to rebuild quality in our classrooms, restore faculty position across the system,"" Reilly said.
Doyle emphasized a need for a five-star program rating educators in the state as well as the fact Wisconsin has led the Midwest in job growth for the past 11 months and that Forbes Magazine rated Madison as the top business city in America.
Black said Doyle took the Republicans on two key issues, raising the minimum wage to $6.50 and not passing the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
