Monday, October 20, 1997
Regents fit improvements into budget
REGENTS New library system, improved teacher ratio goals for
next year
By Caroline M. Bontia
Daily Bruin Contributor
Keeping with the state’s current economic climate, the UC
Regents proposed a 1998-1999 budget plan which aims to maintain
adequate funding for infrastructure and improve the student-faculty
ratio without raising student fees.
The budget also included the proposal of the "California Digital
Library," which will combine the electronic and print holdings of
all the UCs.
The proposed budget plan placed an emphasis on repairing and
renovating aging facilities, which will require diverting an
estimated $500 million each year to campuses with the greatest
need.
"We must do something now before building costs increase. With
building maintenance underfunded, we must make a proposal now,"
emphasized state Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante.
Such costs do not include seismic operations, but would cover
UCLA’s program to implement campus high-rise fire safety
provisions, for example.
Meanwhile, UC President Richard Atkinson expressed his
"disappointment" in Gov. Wilson’s decision to veto AB 1415, the
Higher Education Partnership Act.
The rejected proposal would have guaranteed the UCs and the
California State Universities their current portion of the state
budget through 2003, with provisions for extra funding to meet
increasing enrollment demand.
Now, the challenge for the regents and state legislatures is to
agree on a 1998-1999 budget plan that will accommodate more than
167,000 students and 7,000 faculty members.
Meanwhile, the projected budget plan presented to the the Board
of Regents calls for a 6 percent increase in state funding for next
year, consistent with the governor’s compact for higher education.
This will raise UC state funding by $135 million, to a total of
$2.3 billion.
With more than 2,000 students above budget enrollment, the UCs
face an average of a 17:1 student-faculty ratio, compared to
private institutions which have a ratio of 10:1. It is estimated
that, within 20 years, 500 more faculty positions will be needed to
improve this gap. Currently, both Berkeley and UCLA have a 20:1
student to faculty ratio.
Yet despite the AB 1415 veto, there was still much good news to
share.
Atkinson expressed thanks to the governor and Legislature for
their continued commitment to higher education, and also praised
the talents of faculty and staff.
"A recent national study of research universities ranks all
eight UC general campuses in the top group of public research
universities in terms of faculty research productivity," Atkinson
said.
"This confirms the 1995 National Research Council findings that
academic quality is not concentrated in our older and larger
campuses but is spread throughout the UC system," Atkinson
added.
Under AB 1318, approved by the governor and the Legislature,
undergraduate student fees will be reduced by 5 percent next year
and graduate and professional school student fees for California
residents will be frozen for two years. The bill calls for up to
$22 million in funding to the university to offset the fee loss.
That funding will be in addition to the proposed budget request.
Any action to increase out-of-state fees will be considered after
the governor presents his state budget plan in January.
The proposed budget also directly affects instructional
technological costs, specifically with the new California Digital
Library proposal.
This historic joint agreement between the UCs and the California
State Library was announced Tuesday. The creation of this library
would make it possible to bring the holdings of UC libraries and
others throughout the world to computer screens statewide.
Officials believe that this new library technology "without
walls" will not eliminate all paper resources. Rather, paper and
digital library resources and services will compliment each
other.
The university is spending $1 million on the library project
this year, and proposes in the 1998-1999 budget to spend another
million and seek a matching $3 million from the state. In addition
to the library project, the budget requests an additional $4
million for instructional technology. UC currently spends more than
$55 million annually on technology.
According to Richard E. Lucier, who has been appointed founding
university librarian and executive director of the new digital
library, the strategic goal is to transform the efficient delivery
of scholarly information.
"High-quality digital content is a critical component of the new
library. Technology will serve as a tool for accessing and
integrating the new resources," Lucier said. "We expect the library
to grow as fast and far as the new technology allows. Just as now
it is hard to imagine life without the Internet, in a few years,
digital libraries will be an indispensable tool for scholars and
anyone seeking information."
Further consideration of the budget proposal will be discussed
at the November regents meeting.
Atkinson is confident that the regents will gain budget
support.
"We will continue to work with the governor, the speaker and the
Legislature to ensure that California’s colleges and university are
adequately funded to maintain their quality and affordability as we
face the enormous challenge in the decade ahead," Atkinson
said.