It seems that schools are the winners in Governor Brown’s 2013-14 state budget proposal, of which $56.2 billion of the $97.7 billion budget will go to public education.
Long Beach City College President Eloy Ortiz Oakley was optimistic about the governor’s budget, which continued to reflect Brown’s dedication to spending cuts and will soon face the state Legislature for approval.
“We are grateful that Governor Brown has begun restoring the devastating cuts made to public education,” Oakley said in a statement. “I am hopeful that both the Governor and Legislature would consider linking new funding on student outcomes and results. While the college will still need to make difficult cuts to balance our budget, the cuts will not have to be as drastic thanks to this budget proposal.”
The California State University system, specifically, will receive an additional $125.1 million—as well as an additional increase for the following two years—prompting praise from a multitude of organizations. The additional funding brings the CSU’s state support to $2.2 billion after a drastic 30 percent drop in state funding.
“Governor Brown’s budget provides much needed relief to the CSU system, which was forced to cut thousands of jobs, increase class sizes, and raise tuition due to the drastic cuts in its budget the last five years,” said Pedro Ramirez, Vice President of Legislative Affairs for the California State Student Association (CSSA), which represents the CSU student body statewide. CSSA plans on adopting an official position at its January 20 plenary, where it is expected that the organization will formally support the budget.
The California Faculty Association, representing the employees of the CSU and having been at heads often with the CSU administration, were overall supportive though not specific in the qualms they had with some of the policies proposals found within the budget.
“There is sufficient time to have a thorough discussion of these policies and the impact on the future direction of the CSU,” said CFA President and history professor Lillian Taiz. “This budget proposal is the first step in restoring a prosperous future for California.”
Brown reminded press at a conference that should the Legislature approve the budget, the State—for only the second time in a decade—would see a surplus of $851 million.
“Fiscal discipline is not the enemy of democratic governance, but rather its fundamental predicate,” said Brown. “It is through fiscal discipline that this budget can invest in education, expand health care and provide a safety net for the most vulnerable.”