CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed, University of California President Mark Yudof, Community College Chancellor Jack Scott and about 250 campus officials met with legislators in Sacramento during their joint Higher Education Advocacy Day. The three systems are facing a combined budget reduction of at least $1.4 billion—including a minimum $500 million cut to the CSU’s 2011-12 budget.
“Higher education has been cut $1.4 billion. You know what I say—that’s enough,” said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. “We have to get across to the political leadership how important it is to invest in California’s future, to build the economy and to fill jobs,” Reed added. “The three systems of higher education are among the best and the largest in the nation and we need stability to anticipate, to plan, and to welcome to our campuses the future of California.”
The importance of stable and sustainable funding for public higher education was the dominant theme of the day’s discussions. The CSU’s proposed level of state funding in the governor’s budget is approximately the same level it was in 1999-2000 and would mark the second time in the past three years that the CSU has faced an annual cut of a least half a billion dollars.
The university leaders discussed how higher education drives California’s economy. CSU-related spending supports more than 150,000 jobs annually in California and the CSU each year provides 95,000 job-ready graduates to the state’s most competitive industries—industries which account for nearly 5 million jobs in California.
The advocacy day event is one of several meetings Reed and other CSU officials have had regularly with legislators, the Department of Finance and the Legislative Analyst’s Office to underscore the consequences of reductions to the CSU’s funding. The CSU will continue its advocacy efforts with members of the Academic Senate holding a Legislative Day in Sacramento April 12, followed by the California State Student Association’s (CSSA) lobby day at the capitol on April 18.
CSU, California Faculty Association Bargaining Update and Proposals Posted
The CSU and the California Faculty Association (CFA) are in the bargaining process for a new contract. An update on the March 24-25 meeting is posted on the CSU’s website and the CSU’s and the CFA’s proposals are posted here.