State lawmakers addressed the ramifications of the Taxpayer Protection Amendment before the Joint Finance Committee Wednesday, a proposal some experts say could greatly affect the UW System.
According to UW-Madison applied economics and public affairs professor Andrew Reschovsky, the TPA puts caps on appropriations'a source of funding for the University.
'With revenue growing at a slower rate than it has in the past, it's almost inevitable that there will be less money available for state appropriations, and as you know the university funding comes from multiple sources'state appropriates, tuition, grants and donations,' he said. 'If the money from appropriations is smaller, either the university will have to cut its budget or money will have to come out of increased tuition.'
Reschovsky said costs will continue to rise over time. Whether that comes in the form of employing the best faculty or recruiting the brightest minds to attend UW-Madison, he said cuts in appropriations may have the potential to downgrade the status and reputation of the university.
'The consequence in the longer run of less state money is a smaller, probably lower- quality university,' he said.
Mike Prentiss, spokesperson for state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said it is hard to assess the TPA's real impact on the UW System.
'The direct effect on the UW, like the direct effect on anything, is always going to be hard to tell because you don't know looking forward if the economy is going to go up or if the economy is going to go down,' Prentiss said.
Prentiss said the budgetary process would not change and UW-Madison would have an equal opportunity to be heard and make known their financial needs from the Legislature.
He added that concerns about TPA are rash and may carry political undertones with the sole purpose of undercutting the proposal.
'I think all the doom and gloom and over-the-top cries that the Taxpayer Protection Amendment is going to devastate higher education in Wisconsin is a little premature at best, if not outright intentionally designed to mislead people about what this thing can or cannot do,' Prentiss said. 'It's premature for UW to sound the alarm that the mere introduction of this proposal is the clock ticking on the death of the UW System.'
Darrell Bazzell, vice chancellor for administration at UW-Madison, said the university is concerned with any kind of provision, including TPA, that would make it harder to carry out its core mission of instruction, research and public service.
