STATEMENT FROM UW OSHKOSH CHANCELLOR ANDREW J. LEAVITT, May 7, 2015:

To the UW Oshkosh Campus Community,

Two significant announcements have come out this week with regard to Governor Scott Walker’s 2015–17 budget proposal.

First, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) released a memo addressing 2015–17 revenue expectations for the state. The LFB is not expecting additional tax revenue over the next two years, meaning lawmakers will not have additional money to spend as they work on revisions to the 2015–17 budget.
Additionally, leaders on the Joint Finance Committee announced the decision that the public authority model for the University of Wisconsin System would not move forward in the revised budget proposal, although operational flexibilities for the UW System are still being discussed.
Some legislative leaders continue to express a desire to make fiscal adjustments to the Governor’s budget that would address educational needs for the K-12 schools and there remains the possibility that cuts to the UW System reduction may still occur. We are continuing our advocacy efforts with the Legislature with the goals of lessening the anticipated $300 million reduction, providing a stable funding stream to the UW System and providing additional operational flexibilities to the campuses. To those ends, we are working closely with several members of the Joint Finance Committee and their continued support is making a difference.

Our work over the past several months will continue as we respond to the projected $7.5 million budget reduction for UW Oshkosh. If you’ve attended the recent series of Breakfast Forums with me you know that our campus has a robust plan to manage this reduction in state funding. We also continue to benefit from the strong stewardship and financial management provided by Chancellor Emeritus Richard Wells. By leveraging our reserves and fund balances we can make the necessary reductions to our operating budget over the next several years.

As you know, our plan is to manage the budget changes in part through the workforce reduction of 80–100 positions. We have already put in place the Voluntary Retirement Incentive program that thus far has yielded nearly 100 applications for retirement. As we identify those who qualify for the program, we will evaluate positions that need to filled in order to meet a critical need, those that will remain unfilled and those that will be reassigned to other units on campus. We are also using this same discipline when other positions become vacant. The great news is that we have already met our budget reduction goal for the first year of the new biennium and continue to work toward next year’s goal. As we continue this momentum, much of the budget reduction can be managed through attrition and retirement.

As we look to the future, our Strategic Planning Team is working hard to define what a transformed UW Oshkosh would look like, and will be engaging the campus in this process soon. We also have several Chancellor Study Groups looking at increasing operational efficiencies in order to help us move forward. You can stay current on major initiatives at uwosh.edu/forward and I will continue to keep you informed as information becomes available.

As we end what has been a very challenging year for the entire UW Oshkosh community, I thank each of you for the hard work and positive attitude. Your dedication, discipline and ideas are making a difference.

Thank you,
Chancellor Andrew Leavitt