Spring Break
CSU faces mid-year cuts
Sam Pearson
Issue date: 11/18/08 Section: News
Newly proposed mid-year cuts to the state budget could mean less funding to the California State University system, as the slumping economy takes its toll on state tax revenues.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the proposed cuts Nov. 6 and wants the Legislature to vote on them in its special session that is currently under way.
The governor proposed cutting an additional $66.3 million from the CSU budget, which he said needs to be done mid-year because the current budget assumed the state would take in more tax revenue than it currently is. To cover this shortfall, campuses could be forced to restrict enrollment, raise student fees, offer less classes and hire more part-time faculty.
The Board of Trustees is meeting today in Long Beach to consider declaring a system wide impaction, which would tighten admissions standards at all campuses in an effort to cut costs. Some high-demand CSU campuses have been in a state of impaction for years, as a high number of applications force them to use standards that are more stringent than other CSUs and offer priority to students that live near them. Having all campuses in an impacted state would shut out students who met the normal admissions standards, but not the enhanced ones.
Last year, 10,000 eligible students were turned away from the CSU system when the application deadlines were moved up as a response to proposed budget cuts.
Kevin Wehr, vice president of the California Faculty Association chapter at Sacramento State, said that limiting enrollment and cutting funding did not make sense.
"Higher education enrollment is countercyclical to the economy," Wehr said.
Schwarzenegger is proposing furloughing state workers - requiring employees to take an unpaid leave for one day each month.
The governor is also proposing a temporary 1.5 percent state sales tax increase, which would revert to its previous level after three years. He also wants to expand the sales tax to include additional items not currently taxed, like furniture repair, vehicle repair, golf and veterinarian services, as well as amusement parks and sporting events.
Keith said the furloughs would not apply to CSU employees.
The governor's proposal has the Alliance for the CSU, the group that helped avert most of Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts last year, mobilizing to protect the money it prevented from being cut just months ago from being wiped away.
"Students are really going to be in rough shape," said Lila Jacobs, president of the Sac State CFA chapter and an organizer for the Alliance for the CSU.
Jacobs said that despite the grim statistics, she believes that they can stop the governor's plan from passing.
"We can't rely on the politicians to be the ones who make the difference," Jacobs said. "We have to put pressure."
Relations between the Alliance for the CSU and the Chancellor's Office have cooled since CSU Chancellor Charles Reed returned $31.3 million of this year's funding to the state earlier this month. As state revenues were declining, Reed returned the money to help the state minimize its shortfall. Jacobs said that Reed may have been "pressured," but the move was inexcusable.
"I really think he should have fought for us, especially given that he's been a part of the Alliance," Jacobs said. "I think we all felt betrayed."
Keith said that the CSU system was asked to make the move by the state Department of Finance.
Because of the incident, Jacobs said Alliance for the CSU plans to target the Chancellor's Office in its push to reduce the budget cuts, rather than in the past, when they have been able to work together.
Wehr said it was becoming more apparent that the state's bleak budget situation would be a continuing problem over the next several years. The state's nonpartisan budget analyst this week called the state's finances "truly awful."
"Here we are 11 months on," Wehr said, "and it's the same old story."
Sam Pearson can be reached at spearson@statehornet.com
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