The University of California is expecting further cuts in its
state budget for the year, and faculty leaders at UCLA are working
on a battle plan to handle their share.
Though Gov. Gray Davis signed the 2002-2003 California state
budget on Sept. 5, he hasn’t finished balancing it. The state
Legislature adopted a spending plan authorizing whoever is governor
in January to make up to $750 million in further reductions to
state operations.
The UC is one of several state agencies whose budget can be cut
by as much as 5 percent.
No one knows what the magnitude of the cuts will be, but last
year UCLA received about $658 million of its $2.8 billion operating
budget from the state ““ of which 5 percent would be $33
million.
The Committee on Planning and Budget, which advises the UCLA
administration on budgetary issues, is getting ready for the worst,
said committee chairman Eric Gans.
The governor has until Jan. 10 to reveal this year’s
additional cuts, the same day he will present his first draft of
the 2003-2004 budget.
Historically the governor and Legislature have protected public
higher education during shrinking budget years, said Anita Gore,
assistant director of the California Department of Finance.
But she also said the current budget situation is similar to the
recession levels of the early 1990s, and could be worse.
UCLA saw a lot of staff and program cuts during that time, Gans
said. Though professors are spared, he said getting rid of
temporary employees “handicaps those who are left.”
“The ’90s were very traumatic for people … I
don’t say we would recommend this,” he said.
In addition to program cuts, other solutions the committee
““ along with six task force groups the chancellor will create
““ may consider are increased class sizes, professor teaching
loads and student fees.
The UC says it won’t raise in-state student fees, which
have been steady for eight years, though it will increase
non-resident undergraduate tuition 16 percent for undergraduate
students and 4 percent for graduate students this year.
Gans said the committee will leave student fees alone when
analyzing the budget, but they will likely spend a lot of time
looking at professor teaching loads.
A state audit released this year said UC professors teach less
students and units per quarter than what the state says they
should, Gans said.
“For (students) this is good because (they) tend to get
more of our attention,” he said.
But UCLA could save a lot of money if it increased professor
teaching loads, he added.
Another solution the administration may look at is department
restructuring and consolidation.
“A big thing in the ’90s was the restructuring of
the professional schools,” Gans said.
The administration created the School of Public Policy and
Social Research in 1994 by combining the School of Social Welfare
and the Architecture School’s urban planning department. The
undergraduate nursing program was also cut.
Total UC expenditures amount to roughly $13 billion. The
Legislature’s budget provides the UC with $3.2 billion for
2002-2003, 3 percent less than it did in 2001-2002.
Budget reductions included a 10 percent across-the-board cut for
state-funded research ““ about $32 million ““ along with
reductions for outreach programs, instructional technology,
equipment and library needs.
The budget also includes new funding for enrollment growth,
salary increases, summer sessions, and $4 million in start-up costs
for UC Merced’s faculty, the system’s tenth campus
opening in 2004.
However, the budget office at the UC Office of the President
maintains that there aren’t any programs, not even new ones,
that are exempt from further reductions in January.