UW-Extension's Uncertain Future, Part 4
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016 -- 9:28 AM
-County UW-Extension offices are beginning the first steps of reorganizing due to the $250 million budget cut to the UW-System approved by the Wisconsin Legislature.The Regional Director of the UW-Extension's Northwest Regional Office came to Clark County on Thursday of last week to speak with Extension employees and some board members of the County's Extension Committee about the proposed changes. Because of the cuts to the system, the Cooperative Extension Program is facing a $3.6 million budget deficit. The proposal heading to Extension Chancellor Cathy Sandeen would group Extension offices into multi-county offices with a reorganization of employees. Clark County would be grouped with Marathon, Wood, Portage and Waupaca.
Another concern the County Extension employees brought up was the competition between them and other Extension employees for positions. Clark County's team is all relatively new with no tenure. They worry that if they are being considered for a position, they'll be overlooked for a different County Extension employee who's been in the job for over 20 years and has tenure. The Regional Director stated that the situation is messy, but they're looking into keeping the best employees. She did state that those with tenure will have higher job security, but nothing is certain as they're looking at that as well and changes could be coming there too. When asked about administrative cuts, the Regional Director said that they haven't happened yet, but they too will eventually face the same situation. It should be noted that, true to their characters, the employees of the Clark County UW-Extension Office were more worried about the people of Clark County and the services offered than they were about their jobs.
None of this is set in stone at this point and there are still many questions to be answered and many things to figure out. At this point, the optimistic timeline is that a decision on the reorganization will take place soon and they will begin putting committees together soon after. They hope to begin implementation by July of 2016 and most personnel changes are expected to begin by late this year or early next.
In Case You Missed It:
Part 1: http://cwbradio.com/news/?fn_mode=fullnews&fn_id=15915
Part 2: http://cwbradio.com/news/?fn_mode=fullnews&fn_id=15932
Part 3: http://cwbradio.com/news/?fn_mode=fullnews&fn_id=15939
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.