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like that, I just I'm not
sure if people will carry

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that all the way to
November.

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>> A provision in the
spending package would have

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given $50 million in state
aid to Wisconsin technical

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colleges, the aim being to
reduce the burden on local

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property taxes. Technical
colleges across the state

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serve 300,000 students on
16 campuses. Leaders of the

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system report being
underfunded by the state

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and didn't like the
provision, as it would

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replace locally controlled
funding with state

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controlled aid. Wisconsin
Technical College System

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President Layla Merrifield
joins us with more. Thanks

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for being here. Thank you.
So describe to us how

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getting $50 million from
the state is not a good

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thing in your mind, right?
>> Technical colleges are

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local units of government,
and we have always been a

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state and local partnership.
So we think both local

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funding and state funding
are both important. However,

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we would like to hang on to
the remaining property tax

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levy that we have access to.
It has been capped by the

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legislature, so
rising. We are not the

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cause of rising property
taxes here. The. The issues

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are.
>> That being.

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>> That being other local
units of government. And

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certainly we know that we
have K-12 funding issues in

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in Wisconsin that probably
need to be addressed.

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>> So in the last budget,
you saw additional state

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funding, but it came in $36
million. I think less than

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you requested. Is that an
example of the uncertainty

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kind of of state aid?
>> That's exactly it. We

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have not competed very well
in recent state budgets for

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lawmakers attention and
their priorities. And

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because of that, we have
come to really think about

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property taxes as as
ballast in our in our

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budget. It's a relatively
small portion, maybe about

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28% of our overall budget.
But it's an important

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portion that stabilizes our
budgets and keeps things

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reliable, flexible, and
allows us to really be

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responsive when local
communities come to us for

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help.
>> So when you when you

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looked at the numbers,
where would it have left

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the system? If the 50
million in state aid offset

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00:02:14,234 --> 00:02:16,837
would have passed.
>> It would have been about

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00:02:16,904 --> 00:02:19,573
10% of our overall levy
that that went away. But

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bear in mind that our
property taxes in the

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technical college system
are only around 3.5% of the

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total property tax burden
here in Wisconsin. So it's

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just not very much money.
But it's a big deal to us

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to have flexible dollars
that we can direct where

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communities are asking for
help.

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>> Were you surprised about
this provision?

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>> Surprised? No. This has
been an ongoing

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conversation in Wisconsin.
It's certainly something

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that we talk with our
policymakers often about

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and try to make the case
that local funding is

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important for our system,
and that community and

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technical colleges continue
to make decisions in the

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towns and counties where
they are most affected, and

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that we're able to respond
when, again, there's maybe

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a factory that closes and a
lot of Wisconsinites are

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laid off, or even when we
have shortages of

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firefighters and EMTs,
things like that, which

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we're experiencing right
now in our rural areas.

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>> Did it hurt you to think
that potentially state

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lawmakers and the governor
didn't appreciate what

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00:03:26,406 --> 00:03:29,109
you're talking about there?
>> Well, I think it's an

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ongoing conversation. They
are certainly familiar with

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my side of things, and they
have their own points of

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view. But we'll we'll get
to a compromise position

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eventually, I'm sure.
>> What challenges do state

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tech colleges have right
now?

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>> Waiting lists and a lack
of resources are are the

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main things that are on my
mind and that keep me up at

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night. We have thousands of
students who are waiting to

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get into high demand, high
paying fields. And on the

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other side of that equation,
we have employers who are

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looking for our graduates.
So we would like to put

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those two people together
and and make sure that we

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00:04:02,209 --> 00:04:06,079
can move more Wisconsin
students toward those

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00:04:06,146 --> 00:04:09,816
careers and pathways that
are so important to

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maintaining, for example,
our manufacturing industry

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in this state, our health
care industry in this state,

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and really maintaining
Wisconsin's quality of life.

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00:04:16,423 --> 00:04:19,259
>> What are those high
demand fields?

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00:04:19,326 --> 00:04:22,329
>> There are many right now.
Dental hygiene is one. We

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have long waiting lists and
we are hoping to grow,

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00:04:24,932 --> 00:04:27,334
continue to grow cohorts
there. We recently saw a

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00:04:27,401 --> 00:04:30,404
one time funding infusion
for that for that

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00:04:30,470 --> 00:04:32,439
particular field. But we
need ongoing revenue to

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00:04:32,506 --> 00:04:35,642
make that happen. We are
also seeing ongoing demand

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00:04:35,709 --> 00:04:40,013
from manufacturers. Again
CNC machinists tool and die.

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00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:44,117
All sorts of advanced
manufacturing fields that

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00:04:44,184 --> 00:04:46,520
continue to be in demand.
We are also now seeing more

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00:04:46,587 --> 00:04:49,122
demand from manufacturers
to integrate AI into their

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00:04:49,189 --> 00:04:52,492
automated processes. So we
know that we need to invest

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00:04:52,559 --> 00:04:54,761
there, and we are seeking
the resources to do that.

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>> All right. Very quickly,
in the next state budget

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00:04:57,764 --> 00:05:00,534
cycle, do you have concerns
that they'll try to move

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00:05:00,601 --> 00:05:04,238
more funding for tech
colleges over to state aid?

100
00:05:04,304 --> 00:05:07,074
>> Well, again, every state
budget is different. And in

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00:05:07,140 --> 00:05:09,610
some ways, some of those
conversations continue to

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00:05:09,676 --> 00:05:12,880
to rise up. So we will
continue to engage with our

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00:05:12,946 --> 00:05:18,085
policy makers and make sure
policy makers and make sure