Leaders at Madison Area Technical College say they are looking for ways to save money and make the college more responsive to the needs of the community. They believe one way to do this would be to gain more flexibility under state regulations.

Some may see similarities with the proposed New Badger Partnership that would enable the University of Wisconsin-Madison to break away from the UW-System and gain increased autonomy, but there are some important differences.

Madison College isn’t seeking to break away from the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS), it would just like more flexibility under some of the state statutes governing system schools.

“The college would not seek to become a public authority, because in a way it already is a public authority,” Vice President of Learner Success Terry Webb said. “Where we find the most commonality really is with this need to free us from regulations that don’t add any value to the student experience.”

A memo recently released by the college stated that in order to meet the governor’s “goal for job creation and his commitment to a balanced state budget, both the governance and control of technical colleges need to be placed in the capable hands of the local District Boards.”

Madison College is one of 16 technical colleges under the WTCS. Webb indicated that the college has no interest in breaking away from the system entirely, but is advocating for flexibility with some parts of Chapter 38 of the Wisconsin Code, which governs the WTCS and regulates the activities of the college.

“Over time when the statutes don’t change, but the conditions, do then those regulations become more of a burden than a help and so there are regulations that the college feels should be lifted or changed,” Webb said.

The college is not looking to increase tuition without the approval of the state board, according to Webb. Some recommended amendments or appeals to statutes deal with issues surrounding facilities, academic programs, personal certification and state board policies.

For now, most of the college’s effort has been focused on making up the projected gap of $10.3 million for 2011-2012 fiscal year.

The deficit stems from Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed biennium budget for 2011-2013, which slashes funding for state technical colleges by $35.8 million each year and freezes property taxes levied by technical colleges at the current dollar amount.

The college has found a way to make up for the gap temporarily with cuts in the budget, but continues to look for more sustainable options. Webb estimated that changes to Chapter 38 could result in hundreds of thousands in savings by allowing the college to run more efficiently.

“The state is regionally different, and when the state board is charged with the authority of controlling all of the 16 colleges it creates some problems because there are local differences and it’s difficult for the state board to recognize those differences because they have this broad authority. So just systematically it doesn’t always work,” Webb said.

As the Wisconsin Technical College System nears its 100 Year Anniversary, Paul Gabriel, executive director of the District Boards Association, is very confident that the current model works well. He admitted that there are many issues and different priorities, but said the colleges are unified under a common goal.

“Our main job is that we have to keep the doors open right now to as many individuals as we can,” Gabriel said. “We need to restore the aid cuts that are proposed and we need to lift or illuminate this cap on our local revenue.”