Potential Boon for California Higher Ed (Inside Higher Ed)
…In a State of the State speech that elevated education, and higher education in particular, above some competing state priorities, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed amending the state's Constitution to ensure that the state's two major public university systems receive no less than 10 percent of the state's operating funds each year. The additional funds would come by cutting spiraling state spending on prisons, the governor said.
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The plan faces enormous hurdles, though, in that it would require at least two-thirds of state voters to back a ballot measure and because Schwarzenegger proposes deriving the funds by privatizing the state's prison system, an idea that California's powerful union of prison guards, among others, will vigorously oppose. And the governor is a lame duck, so hardly at the peak of his political powers.
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"Wisdom and common sense remind us that tipping the scales back in favor of fully funding education means that fewer Californians will land in a prison cell and we will reduce costs associated with larger prison populations,” said Jack Scott, chancellor of the California Community Colleges. In an interview, Scott said that while the governor's proposal would not promise any increase directly for community colleges, he hoped that as the initiative took shape, some of the additional funds for Cal State and UC might be set aside to ensure additional enrollment slots at those institutions for students transferring from two-year institutions.
"That would certainly be fair, and would certainly increase community college support for the proposal. I would expect a receptive ear from both of those leaders," he said of [Mark G. Yudof, president of the University of California] and [Charles B. Reed, chancellor of the Cal State system]….
Yesterday, in a letter to his Chief Executive Officers, Scott wrote:
I was very encouraged that in his speech the Governor pledged to make no further cuts to education in his proposed 2010-11 budget. I will report on the latest details of this proposed budget for the community colleges once he releases it on Friday. Of course, the Governor’s budget is only the first round in a protracted budget process, but certainly, his proposed budget is important as a starting point.
In addition, the Governor showed great leadership by making it very clear that California is headed in the wrong direction in spending more money on prisons than on higher education. He is therefore proposing an initiative that would, over a three-year period, reduce prison spending to 7% of state general fund expenditures and increase higher education funding to at least 10% of state general fund expenditures. Much of the impact of this initiative would help the California State University (CSU) and the University of California (UC). But I have begun conversations to make sure that the initiative would guarantee that a significant portion of that additional funding would be used to increase slots for community college transfers to CSU and UC.
6 comments:
OH ye of little faith (in the Governator). He has superpowers, you know.
can we still call him the "Govenator"?
Nothingness. Pure unadulterated bullshit.
Why are CA taxpayers still forced to pay for the Healthy Families programe during this budget crisis? I saw madam speaker Karen Bass in an interview last week where she spoke of the some 700,000 Californians who receive this benefit which includes food and health insurance. Can't they see this is the reason for the 13B shortfall each year? At the end of the interview, Karen said that she's always stood for social & economic justice. Isn't she and others like her really the problem in Sacramento?
Anonymous - according to the Governors "budget workaround" proposal in May the combined elimination of the CalWORKs and Healthy Families programs and phasing out of the CalGrant Program would only provide $6.1 billion, less than half of the $13 billion shortfall.
According to this article in the Daily Sundial, the state of California gives away $50 billion in corporate welfare a year!
Further, California is the only state in the union that does not have a severance tax on oil, which could raise $8 billion a year according to this article.
Sir, please get your facts straight and do your homework before tossing such magnanimous blame around.
10:50 is typical of those who are bereft of empathy. All they care for is their horribly burdensome (apparently to them) fair share of taxes that have kept California a first class state. Now, as we circle the drain and become a third world country, let's hope this person and his/her ilk are happy, and that they really enjoy the few dollars that make such a difference to them.
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