Bleak

• More Budget Cuts in California (Inside Higher Ed)

     Because expected state revenues did not materialize, the University of California and California State University systems must each cut an additional $100 million from their operating budgets, California Governor Jerry Brown announced Tuesday. The cuts come on top of $650 million each system had to cut after the budget was finalized this summer. The community college system, also facing new cuts, will probably increase tuition $10 per unit, starting with the summer 2012 session, on top of a $10 increase imposed this fall. In total, the cuts to higher education and other services will total about $1 billion….

• State community colleges face $102 million in cuts (The Fresno Bee)
• Yudof's statement

In Cal, broad support for the Occupy movement

From this morning’s Oakland Tribune:
Poll: Californians evenly split on Occupy movement

     California voters are almost evenly split, largely along ideological lines, over whether they identify with the Occupy movement, according to a new Field Poll. ¶ The poll found 46 percent of California's voting public identifies a lot or some with the Occupy movement, while 49 percent declare not much identification with it. But while voters are closely divided in their identification with the movement, a 58 percent to 32 percent majority say they agree with the protests' underlying reason….
. . .
     Conservatives are very unlikely to identify with the movement, liberals are very likely to do so and independents are about evenly split, [Field Poll Director Mark] DiCamillo said.
. . .
     DiCamillo said that for context's sake, he went back and checked a similar poll asking about the Tea Party movement in January 2010; at that time, 28 percent of Californians identified strongly or somewhat with that movement. ¶ By comparison, he said, Occupy is "a bigger, broader phenomenon" than the Tea Party, which was mainly just within the bounds of the Republican Party….

See also: STATE: Most people share Occupy views, poll finds (The [Riverside] Press-Enterprise)

Scott Lay on California's difficult education challenges

On the 19th, President and CEO of Community College League of California, Scott Lay, explained the major challenges that California faces with regard to education, especially at the state's community college system. He spoke at the Irvine Valley College's new Performing Arts Center.

Among Lay's points: that community colleges need to lay less stress on growth and more on completing the education of the students they already have.

I highly recommend that you view this short video (edited down from over a half hour to less than ten minutes).

Scott refers to these reports (pdf files):

America’s Perfect Storm: three forces changing our nation’s future

Rules of the Game: How State Policy Creates Barriers to Degree Completion and Impedes Student Success in the California Community Colleges

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