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.
