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The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is once again looking for a new leader. But that's not the biggest problem on campus. The school has scored three times in a row with chancellors — hiring Nancy Zimpher, Carlos Santiago and Mike Lovell. There is no reason to suspect it can't find a top candidate this time.

The bigger problem at UWM is money. Are the state's political leaders willing to pay for what they are asking of the UWM campus?

With the exception of a single legislative session in the past decade, the answer to the question has been "no." For the sake of Milwaukee's long-term growth and development, that answer needs to change. At the very least, the way funds are sorted out within the UW System should be updated.

UWM is a strong, engaged participant in public life in Milwaukee. Its dual mission of educating large numbers of students, many of them underprivileged and minority, and creating powerful collaborations within the community, especially businesses, is vital to civic life here.

In recent years, the school has launched a new School of Public Health downtown, a first-of-its-kind School of Freshwater Sciences on the Inner Harbor and a new business accelerator and business park at the Milwaukee County Grounds. Funded research at UWM has doubled in the past decade.

The community asked — and UWM delivered at a very reasonable price.

But UWM can't continue to fulfill its larger mission on the cheap.

UWM receives far less than its peer institutions in state support — about $3,900 per student compared with about $8,200. As a result, faculty members frequently are the target of headhunters from schools that pay better. The campus also doesn't have the basic flexibility from state control to handle such things as its own pay scales or purchasing. It doesn't have much flexibility in setting tuition. And it's been neglected by the lawmakers who control the state budget.

The campus asked for additional base funding of $30 million over three state budgets when Santiago was at the helm. It received the first installment under former Gov. Jim Doyle's administration. But it never received the other installments. In fact, with its tight budgets recently — coupled with a tuition freeze arising from the political charade over university reserve accounts, the campus arguably is in worse financial shape now than it was before the additional funding came to the campus.

To the state's credit, it has helped UWM get several high-profile building projects off the ground, including the first phase of the Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex that is now under construction on UWM's East Side campus and the rehab of the Freshwater Sciences building. It has $330 million of new building projects in the works.

But buildings are only as good as the faculty the school can afford.

"There is a huge disconnect between our potential and what we can accomplish and what our funding can support," says Mark D. Schwartz, a distinguished professor of geography and chairman of the University Committee, the executive committee of the UWM faculty senate.

He argues that now is the best time to figure out these important questions:

"Losing the chancellor is clearly a blow, but we've set up...the situation where we can be successful. To some degree, we're putting our case before the state and saying 'What is it that you want us to be?'"

Schwartz and Lovell point to an outdated funding formula at the UW System level that doesn't recognize UWM's expanded mission. They contend that UWM is structurally underfunded — with revenue more appropriate for a school of 16,000 students instead of the 28,000 now crammed onto the school's campuses. A committee of the UW chancellors and university officials is reviewing the formula and is expected to report back this spring.

Any talk of the funding formula inevitably scares up concerns around the UW System that whatever additional money UWM receives would have to come from the budgets of other UW institutions.

But is this necessarily the case? Couldn't out-of-state enrollment be boosted? What about increasing the amount charged to out-of-state students?

UW-Madison charges out-of-state students pursuing a bachelor's degree in business $13,826 a semester. The University of Michigan charges $20,440 for the same degree program for non-Michigan residents, suggesting there might be room for UW to charge a little more.

UWM likely will need to do more private fund-raising than it has in the past as well — a campaign is in the works. And the campus will need to expand its business partnerships.

Lovell got high marks for his stewardship of the Milwaukee campus and is well-liked in the community, especially for his outreach to local businesses. He really understands the power of collaboration. His move across town to Marquette, in that sense, doesn't mean a loss for the community. UWM will need to identify a new leader who can keep the campus on the trail blazed by Zimpher, Santiago and Lovell — one that includes important work with low-income students and in the university's research labs.

But UWM's paltry budget is a real problem. There is only so much any chancellor can do with what UWM now has to work with. Gov. Scott Walker, legislative leaders, the regents — and business and political leaders in the Milwaukee 7 region — should focus on that problem even as the search for Lovell's replacement begins.

Should the Legislature or the UW regents find a way to funnel more money to UWM? To be considered for publication as a letter to the editor, e-mail your opinion to the Journal Sentinel editorial department. Please see letters guidelines.