Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s newly unveiled budget
proposal is nothing to get excited about. While he kept his promise
not to make major cuts to the UC system, he clearly has not made
education a chief priority.
The proposed budget includes a $97.5 million increase for the
UC, which could be used for staff raises and an overall enrollment
increase of 5,000 students. However, it also leaves open the
possibility of $17 million in cuts to outreach programs and
enrollment.
And UC students will not be spared from continued fee increases:
it appears fees are on track to increase by at least single digit
percentages every year in the near future.
The new budget is not a disaster, but it fails to solve the
long-term problems Schwarzenegger was elected to fix. He has
avoided raising taxes, but that has not brought the necessary
levels of growth needed to fund state programs ““ there is a
projected $8.1 billion deficit. At least some of that deficit is
likely to be met with yet another year of borrowing by the state
government.
Schwarzenegger needs to meet the Democratic legislature at some
middle point when it comes to taxes and spending. Education is an
investment in the future. Schwarzenegger may be correct that higher
taxes will scare businesses away. But an uneducated population
would be just as bad.