The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents met Friday and voted on measures aimed at improving transparency in the UW System’s budget.
The board unanimously resolved to use new budget reporting methods designed to show clearer and more accurate fiscal information for the public and the state government.
UW System President Raymond Cross said he hopes to see new, more accurate budget forecasting methods readily available for reference. He added that current projections, which only look one or two years into the future, lack important information about long-term fiscal trends.
Regent Margaret Farrow said she was happy with the new representations of UW’s budget, and said she hoped it would clear up public confusion about such a complicated issue.
Farrow added that figures like UW’s projected $1 billion budget surplus can be misleading, and the new budget models could break down statistics to give a simpler, more exact representation of the system’s budget situation.
The board also approved a resolution to create a Bachelors of Science in Physical Education program at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
