It will set a two-year budget that goes into effect on July 1, 1999. Thibodeau termed that budget the most critical to UW-RF in the past 10 years. He noted that higher education will have to continue to intensively compete with other state initiatives, including property tax relief, K-12 funding, corrections and welfare reform. He said it will be up to the academy to educate legislators and the executive branch to re-emphasize public higher education and to recognize the urgency of providing funding in face of the extraordinary changes in education because of expansive use of technology and the explosion of information in a global society. If the State of Wisconsin is to sustain one of the very best public educational systems in the nation it simply must make the hard decisions necessary to increase state support of our efforts.
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What is required is the commitment to set the priority. I want you to know that I will work exceptionally hard in the months ahead, in every arena and in every way possible, to advance the case for support of public higher education in Wisconsin. I look forward to joining forces with our governance groups representatives, with each of you individually, and with our students in this cause. It also has set tuition at 4 percent per year. Implementation to support diversity by expanding pre-college programs, financial aid and student recruitment.