When Governor Schwarzenegger revealed his revised California 2010-2011 budget earlier this month, it retained his proposal to add $366 million in funding to the California State University (CSU) system.
Significant cuts were made in the CSU budget last year and $305 million of the proposed funding would restore the lost money. The remaining $60.6 million is intended to increase enrollment in the system’s 23 campuses.
“The governor has decided this year that enough is enough, especially after the cuts in education spending in past years,” Schwarzenegger’s deputy press secretary Andrea McCarthy said. “He’s had to make cuts that he never wanted to make, and he’s drawing the line when it comes to educating the future of our state.”
The governor’s budget would also withdraw the proposals to eliminate the Cal Grant program. Deputy Director of the State Department of Finance H.D. Palmer said the fact the governor’s proposal increases funding to the CSU system, despite California’s growing deficit is a testament to how highly the governor values higher education.
“The ball is in the legislature’s court now — we can’t say whether the proposal will actually be passed,” Palmer said. “The full amount of funding would be a 12.2 percent increase over last year’s CSU budget, and the first priority would be boosting enrollment.”
The restoration of funds will come as a relief to California State Universities. Since 2007, funding cuts for the universities have led to more than 5,000 fewer class sections offered and a 45 percent increase in student fees, according to a press release issued by the California Faculty Association. Last year alone, the CSU hired 10 percent fewer teachers.
While next year’s CSU budget would be spared from cuts, there are many other areas of the governor’s proposed budget that would not be so fortunate. Schwarzenegger’s May revision includes the elimination of the CalWORKs program, a $600 million reduction in spending on mental health care and the elimination of the California Food Assistance Program.
Though the funding has yet to be approved by the California legislature, the CSU administration has already established priorities for the governor’s proposed funding.
“The proposed numbers are very compelling, but it’s unclear how much will actually get approved,” said Mike Uhlenkamp, spokesperson for the CSU media relations office. “Our ultimate goal is increasing access, and if all of this funding was approved, it would increase student enrollment across the state by about 29,000 and at Cal Poly by about 1,500.”
Cal Poly Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Robert Koob said the university administration has several goals in mind for the funding Cal Poly would receive from this budget.
“We’re primarily grateful that this budget didn’t have any more cuts,” Koob said. “Our first priority would be making up for the money lost by furloughs and restoring the faculty’s full-time pay. We also want to restore the faculty and operating positions that have been cut and make room for more students.”
The proposed funding would also be welcomed by Cal Poly students.
“I’d really like to see any new funding go toward making more class sections,” environmental management junior Ariel Namm said. “I would also love it if there was a way the school could make things like textbooks less expensive.”
The California legislature’s deadline for approval of the 2010-2011 budget is June 15, though the legislature has taken longer in past years.