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Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, April 7
Declining north woods numbers a concern
If you like to vacation in Wisconsin's northwoods, the latest census estimates showing that 14 of Wisconsin's 16 northernmost counties lost population the past three years can be seen as a positive.
After all, fewer people means more wide open spaces for hunting, fishing, boating, etc.
But those numbers are far less comforting to those living in northern Wisconsin. Fewer people in those communities means fewer jobs, smaller and maybe fewer schools and a less attractive future for young people contemplating where they want to spend their adult lives.
Northern Wisconsin is a beautiful place, and most of us wouldn't want to see it overrun by rapidly growing population. But we should want it to grow enough to keep it viable so its permanent residents can make a decent living. That's hard to sustain when more people die or move out than are born or move in.
Consider rural schools. According to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, 83 percent of the state's 220 rural school districts had enrollment declines from 2000-10. Nearly a quarter of them saw enrollments drop by more than 20 percent.
Another Taxpayers Alliance report found that from 2001-10, Wisconsin lost as much as $8 billion as a result of more people leaving the state than moving here.
The just-ended brutal winter may not make things better. The WTA study found that some of our losses are retirees with money leaving for warmer climes. While the average income of all Wisconsin movers from 2001-10 was about $48,000, the average of the 30,000 Wisconsinites moving to Florida was almost $82,000.
Dane County, home of our state government and the flagship university UW-Madison, saw its population grow by 4.3 percent from 2010-13, figures show. That's by far the largest percentage growth of the 72 counties - Eau Claire and Trempealeau counties tied for second at 2.6 percent growth.
But how long can Madison go without feeling the effect of stagnant or declining population in much of the rest of the state, which means less tax money flowing to our capital city?
The unemployment numbers between now and November will touch off glee among Democrats if they rise, hoping such gloomy news will help them oust Republican Gov. Scott Walker and majority Republicans in the Legislature.
But this issue needs far more deliberation than the usual election-year blather. Walker has made job growth the cornerstone of his governorship. If Democratic challenger Mary Burke hopes to win, she'll have to not only explain where Walker has slipped up but convince us that she'd chart a better course.
It's not an easy task. We can't compete with Florida and Arizona weather. Technology makes it easier to milk cows and make most products with fewer people. The lure of big cities such as Minneapolis, Chicago, etc., keeps calling our college graduates.
It's not something anyone can solve in a 30-second ad, but it definitely deserves our attention.
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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 5
At UWM, it boils down to one thing: money
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is once again looking for a new leader. But that's not the biggest problem on campus. The school has scored three times in a row with chancellors — hiring Nancy Zimpher, Carlos Santiago and Mike Lovell. There is no reason to suspect it can't find a top candidate this time.
The bigger problem at UWM is money. Are the state's political leaders willing to pay for what they are asking of the UWM campus?
With the exception of a single legislative session in the past decade, the answer to the question has been "no." For the sake of Milwaukee's long-term growth and development, that answer needs to change. At the very least, the way funds are sorted out within the UW System should be updated.
UWM is a strong, engaged participant in public life in Milwaukee. Its dual mission of educating large numbers of students, many of them underprivileged and minority, and creating powerful collaborations within the community, especially businesses, is vital to civic life here.
In recent years, the school has launched a new School of Public Health downtown, a first-of-its-kind School of Freshwater Sciences on the Inner Harbor and a new business accelerator and business park at the Milwaukee County Grounds. Funded research at UWM has doubled in the past decade.
The community asked — and UWM delivered at a very reasonable price.
But UWM can't continue to fulfill its larger mission on the cheap.
UWM receives far less than its peer institutions in state support — about $3,900 per student compared with about $8,200. As a result, faculty members frequently are the target of headhunters from schools that pay better. The campus also doesn't have the basic flexibility from state control to handle such things as its own pay scales or purchasing. It doesn't have much flexibility in setting tuition. And it's been neglected by the lawmakers who control the state budget.
The campus asked for additional base funding of $30 million over three state budgets when Santiago was at the helm. It received the first installment under former Gov. Jim Doyle's administration. But it never received the other installments. In fact, with its tight budgets recently — coupled with a tuition freeze arising from the political charade over university reserve accounts, the campus arguably is in worse financial shape now than it was before the additional funding came to the campus.
To the state's credit, it has helped UWM get several high-profile building projects off the ground, including the first phase of the Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex that is now under construction on UWM's East Side campus and the rehab of the Freshwater Sciences building. It has $330 million of new building projects in the works.
But buildings are only as good as the faculty the school can afford.
"There is a huge disconnect between our potential and what we can accomplish and what our funding can support," says Mark D. Schwartz, a distinguished professor of geography and chairman of the University Committee, the executive committee of the UWM faculty senate.
He argues that now is the best time to figure out these important questions:
"Losing the chancellor is clearly a blow, but we've set up...the situation where we can be successful. To some degree, we're putting our case before the state and saying 'What is it that you want us to be?'"
Schwartz and Lovell point to an outdated funding formula at the UW System level that doesn't recognize UWM's expanded mission. They contend that UWM is structurally underfunded — with revenue more appropriate for a school of 16,000 students instead of the 28,000 now crammed onto the school's campuses. A committee of the UW chancellors and university officials is reviewing the formula and is expected to report back this spring.
Any talk of the funding formula inevitably scares up concerns around the UW System that whatever additional money UWM receives would have to come from the budgets of other UW institutions.
But is this necessarily the case? Couldn't out-of-state enrollment be boosted? What about increasing the amount charged to out-of-state students?
UW-Madison charges out-of-state students pursuing a bachelor's degree in business $13,826 a semester. The University of Michigan charges $20,440 for the same degree program for non-Michigan residents, suggesting there might be room for UW to charge a little more.
UWM likely will need to do more private fund-raising than it has in the past as well — a campaign is in the works. And the campus will need to expand its business partnerships.
Lovell got high marks for his stewardship of the Milwaukee campus and is well-liked in the community, especially for his outreach to local businesses. He really understands the power of collaboration. His move across town to Marquette, in that sense, doesn't mean a loss for the community. UWM will need to identify a new leader who can keep the campus on the trail blazed by Zimpher, Santiago and Lovell — one that includes important work with low-income students and in the university's research labs.
But UWM's paltry budget is a real problem. There is only so much any chancellor can do with what UWM now has to work with. Gov. Scott Walker, legislative leaders, the regents — and business and political leaders in the Milwaukee 7 region — should focus on that problem even as the search for Lovell's replacement begins.
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Appleton Post-Crescent, April 4
What happened to Legislature's job focus?
The state Legislature has ended its session for the year and, while its work will continue, all the bills that are going to be passed have been passed. Publicly, it'll be a relatively quiet time until campaigning picks up this summer.
A whole bunch of legislation passed in the final days — the Senate alone passed more than 50 bills on Tuesday, its last day in session. There were bills that were worthwhile — an oral chemotherapy mandate for health insurers, for example — and puzzling — was there really a push to stop 17-year-olds from officiating weddings?
But what was most striking about the close of the session — and the session as a whole — was the lack of legislation on jobs.
There were some measures, like the bill that Gov. Scott Walker signed into law Thursday that provides a sales-tax exemption on aircraft maintenance parts and labor, which should be a boost for Gulfstream's operations here. There was a law that strengthens venture-capital investment in the state, along with other laws that may directly or indirectly add to job growth.
Overall, though, the "laser-like focus" on jobs that state residents were promised by their legislators was more like a flashlight on half-power.
There are two possible explanations for the lackluster effort — legislators got sidetracked by other issues, some important and some not so important; or legislators know there are real limits to what they can do to grow jobs.
Both explanations ring true, but especially the second one.
Wisconsin's economy is tied to the nation's economy, which is tied to the world's economy. It's a complex arrangement that can't be easily changed.
The Legislature can provide money for venture capital or tax breaks to help employers or more training opportunities for job seekers. But employers will add jobs only when there's more demand for their products or services. That means job growth depends on the economy — both the state's and state residents' personal economies. Some of the actions taken by this Legislature will help personal economies, but others will hurt them.
While there's reason to question the effort of our legislators on jobs in the last year and a quarter, it's also important to recognize those limits.
It's also important to remember that when these same legislators and their challengers come looking for your vote later this year, promising another "laser-like focus" on jobs.
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