MATC Matters

Dear Faculty and Staff,

State Budget Update
The bad news is there is still no agreement on the budget and the “no budget” scenario itself can have a negative impact. The good news is you can still have an impact and your voice is more important now than ever.

According to Wisconsin Technical College District Boards Association Executive Director Paul Gabriel, “a ‘no budget’ budget would have mixed results for the WTCS. On the positive side of the ledger, the Assembly and Senate have been debating in a range between flat funding and $14 million in cuts. No budget means the WTCS continues at current funding levels….On the negative side of the ledger, no budget would mean the loss of any new funding for workforce training grants, for financial aid and for student financial aid.”

See the full memo on the budget update (WORD: 36KB) attached. In it, he explores the issues behind the impasse and the impact it will have on the future of WTCS and, indeed, education on all levels in Wisconsin.

Budget Advocacy
Right now, we need action to make our voices heard. We need a flood of contacts from students, faculty and staff, and from anyone who supports technical college access and services. The message:

• Whatever budget is adopted, there needs to be enough revenue to maintain state support of technical colleges and to support the modest increases for financial aid, workforce grants, and unfunded veterans tuition remissions. This can be accomplished by adopting the bipartisan Joint Finance budget provisions for the WTCS.
• Even this objective - the best case possible between budget versions - fails to cover any of the increases in costs necessary to continue at our current levels of service. Any effort to offset rising operating costs will ultimately result in property tax increases.
• Imposing a levy freeze only makes the problem worse. Stagnant state support and unfunded mandates like veterans remissions will force massive cuts to services.
• This budget battle comes at a time when Wisconsin business and industry are in desperate need of trained workers, and when Wisconsin citizens are desperately seeking skills and training.
• Every legislator says he or she: 1) supports property tax relief; 2) supports business needs for skilled workers; 3) supports access to training leading to better jobs and higher incomes for constituents; and 4) supports their technical college.
  The bipartisan Joint Finance budget for the WTCS and Higher Educational Aids Board is the only budget consistent with these statements of support - it is the only option that does not hurt technical colleges. Voting for anything less is not consistent with statements 1 through 4.

The most important contacts to make directly are to the Speaker and the Majority Leader. Any resident can contact them, or contacts can be made to any legislator with a request that they pass on the message to the Speaker and Majority Leader.

Call, write or email your legislators from home. Please do not use MATC resources for your communication.

Please contact:
Judy Robson (D-Beloit), Senate Majority Leader
(608) 266-2253
sen.robson@legis.wisconsin.gov

Michael Huebsch (R-West Salem), Speaker of the Assembly
(608) 266-3387
rep.huebsch@legis.wisconsin.gov

MATC Marvels
Here are this week’s “favorite teachers” and staff, as mentioned to me by students:
Christopher Arenas, business
Mary Haight, French
James Wilson, French and Spanish
John Kempf, eastern region instructor
Alfonso Studesville, counselor
Rebecca Josvai, biotechnology

Other MATC Marvels
Special thanks to Marjorie Cook, Vicki Jo Saffran, Jade Nelson, Kristin Long, Teresa Werhane, Andy Kuruzar, Amy Kittleson, Rachel Rassmusen. Bill Bessette and Paula Symons, and to the Center for Health and Safety Education faculty and staff who coordinated the “Career Pathwaysâ€? event related to health careers. More than 300 area middle and high school students had the opportunity to try out their diagnostic life-saving skills on “Sim-Man,” a very life-like patient - he breathes, he talks, he even has oozing wounds! Students also got a first-hand look at the many health careers available at the college. Thanks goes as well to staff from around the college who helped make this event a success!

Highlights of my week
In addition to events on our campuses, I have the opportunity to go out into the community and nationally to share news about MATC and learn what’s going on. Recently, I took part in these events:

• welcomed new staff at their employee orientation: Bill Bessette, public relations specialist, Ashlie Gera, child care associate, Midia Hundley, regional campus coordinator-multilingual occupational opportunities, Malika Monger, diversity recruitment/employment coordinator, Craig Plain, flexible and emerging learning opportunities director, Michael Stark, facilities director, and Wayne Vaughn, student support facilitator
• traveled to Fort Atkinson with Bob Dinndorf, foundation executive director, to meet with Mike Phelps of the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation
• conducted our annual audit exit interview with representatives from Virchow, Krause & Company
• participated on a president’s panel at the American Council on Education (ACE) Office of Women in Higher Education (OWHE) Midwest Regional Leadership Forum. I joined Linda Bunnell, chancellor of University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and Rita Cheng, vice chancellor of University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, to talk about “Managing Multiple Constituenciesâ€?. I also facilitated a workshop for emerging leaders in higher education on the subject of dealing with the press.

In closing, here is a quote by Dutch entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul van Vlissingen:

“Once we have appointed our managers, we let them reinvent the wheel. The world is changing so fast you’ll always be needing different wheels for changing terrain.”

Don’t forget to contact your state legislators! Thank you!

Bettsey