1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 You 2 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:36,000 A provision in the spending package would have given $50 million in state aid to Wisconsin 3 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:42,000 Technical Colleges, the aim being to reduce the burden on local property taxes. 4 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:48,000 Technical Colleges across the state serve 300,000 students on 16 campuses. 5 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:53,000 Leaders of the system report being underfunded by the state and didn't like the provision 6 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:58,000 as it would replace locally controlled funding with state-controlled aid. 7 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:03,000 Wisconsin Technical College System President Layla Maryfield joins us with more. 8 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:04,000 Thanks for being here. 9 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:05,000 Thank you. 10 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:11,000 So describe to us how getting $50 million from the state is not a good thing in your mind. 11 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:12,000 Right. 12 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:18,000 Technical Colleges are local units of government and we have always been a state and local partnership. 13 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:23,000 So we think both local funding and state funding are both important. 14 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:28,000 However, we would like to hang on to the remaining property tax levy that we have access to. 15 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,000 It has been capped by the legislature, so it's not rising. 16 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:35,000 We are not the cause of rising property taxes here in Wisconsin. 17 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:41,000 We think that aid efforts to relieve property taxes should probably go where the issues are. 18 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:42,000 That being? 19 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:48,000 That being other local units of government and certainly we know that we have K-12 funding 20 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,000 issues in Wisconsin that probably need to be addressed. 21 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:56,000 So in the last budget, you saw additional state funding, but it came in $36 million, 22 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,000 I think less than you requested. 23 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:03,000 Is that an example of the uncertainty kind of of state aid? 24 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:04,000 That's exactly it. 25 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:11,000 We have not competed very well in recent state budgets for lawmakers' attention and their priorities. 26 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:17,000 And because of that, we have come to really think about property taxes as ballast in our budget. 27 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,000 It's a relatively small portion, maybe about 28% of our overall budget. 28 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:26,000 But it's an important portion that stabilizes our budgets and keeps things reliable, flexible, 29 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:31,000 and allows us to really be responsive when local communities come to us for help. 30 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:39,000 So when you looked at the numbers, where would it have left the system if the 50 million in state aid offset would have passed? 31 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:43,000 It would have been about 10% of our overall levy that went away. 32 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:53,000 But bear in mind that our property taxes in the technical college system are only around 3.5% of the total property tax burden here in Wisconsin. 33 00:02:53,000 --> 00:03:02,000 So it's just not very much money, but it's a big deal to us to have flexible dollars that we can direct where communities are asking for help. 34 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,000 Were you surprised about this provision? 35 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:09,000 I'm surprised to know this has been an ongoing conversation in Wisconsin. 36 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:28,000 It's certainly something that we talk with our policymakers often about and try to make the case that local funding is important for our system and that community and technical colleges continue to make decisions in the towns and counties where they are most affected 37 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:42,000 and that we're able to respond when, again, there's maybe a factory that closes and a lot of Wisconsinites are laid off or even when we have shortages of firefighters, DMTs, things like that, which we're experiencing right now in our rural areas. 38 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:51,000 Did it hurt you to think that potentially state lawmakers and the governor didn't appreciate what you're talking about there? 39 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,000 Well, I think it's an ongoing conversation. 40 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:59,000 They are certainly familiar with my side of things and they have their own points of view. 41 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,000 But we'll get to a compromised position eventually, I'm sure. 42 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:06,000 What challenges do state colleges have right now? 43 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:12,000 Waiting lists and a lack of resources are the main things that are on my mind and that keep me up at night. 44 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:17,000 We have thousands of students who are waiting to get into high demand, high paying fields. 45 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:22,000 And on the other side of that equation, we have employers who are looking for our graduates. 46 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:37,000 So we would like to put those two people together and make sure that we can move more Wisconsin students toward those careers and pathways that are so important to maintaining, for example, our manufacturing industry in the state, our health care industry in the state, 47 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,000 and really maintaining Wisconsin's quality of life. 48 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:42,000 What are those high demand fields? 49 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,000 There are many right now. 50 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:46,000 Dental hygiene is one. 51 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:50,000 We have long waiting lists and we are hoping to continue to grow cohorts there. 52 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:57,000 We recently saw a one-time funding infusion for that particular field, but we need ongoing revenue to make that happen. 53 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:09,000 We are also seeing ongoing demand from manufacturers, again, CNC machinists, tool and die, all sorts of advanced manufacturing fields that continue to be in demand. 54 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:14,000 We are also now seeing more demand for manufacturers to integrate AI into their automated processes. 55 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:19,000 So we know that we need to invest there and we are seeking the resources to do that. 56 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:20,000 All right, very quickly. 57 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:28,000 In the next state budget cycle, do you have concerns that they'll try to move more funding for tech colleges over to state aid? 58 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:34,000 Well, again, every state budget is different and in some ways, some of those conversations continue to rise up. 59 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:39,000 So we will continue to engage with our policymakers and make sure that we do what's best for Wisconsin. 60 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:40,000 All right. 61 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,000 Leila, Maryfield. 62 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:42,000 Thanks very much. 63 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:43,000 Thank you. 64 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:51,000 We're off, but with like Governor Evers saying, you can't do this.