Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is scheduled to release a revised
version of the state budget today, and for University of California
students this will likely mean they will not see fee increases for
at least another year.
In the governor’s initial budget, released in January, he
proposed to buy out the student-fee increases ““ passed by the
UC Board of Regents earlier this year ““ by providing the UC
with money to cover the planned increases.
And because of a budget that is $5 billion ahead of what
Schwarzenegger had expected, that proposal will become a reality,
said HD Palmer, a spokesman for the state Department of
Finance.
The May budget revision, or the May Revise, re-evaluates the
budget after taxes have been filed. Palmer said the extra money
will allow the state to pay down some of its debt and set some
money aside for the future.
The revise will also include additional funding to health care
and schools, administration officials said.
“The governor is going to propose even more money for
education,” Palmer told Reuters on Tuesday.
But in a conference in Sacramento on Thursday, Schwarzenegger
urged caution in light of the revenue surge.
“Some may think this is a moment when we can dramatically
increase spending, but I urge them to resist that
temptation,” he said.
The budget revision comes shortly after the UC’s scandal
over compensation reached a head ““ three state senators said
UC President Robert Dynes should resign or be fired for neglecting
to adequately handle the business of the UC and for allowing
numerous so-called “exceptions” to university
policy.
The UC Board of Regents plans to meet next week and will likely
address concerns over the UC’s pay practices.
Though there has been no indication that the university’s
funding will decrease as a result, UCLA political science Professor
Susanne Lohmann said the issue has put the UC in a precarious
position.
“It’s never a good idea to have negative things
going on when competing with others for funding,” she
said.
When the UC was mired in similar compensation troubles in 1992,
the state did choose to decrease the university’s funding.
But some said if the state chooses similar action this year,
students may feel the brunt of the loss.
With an already limited number of resources available to
students due to a tight state budget, “any partial cuts to
the UC or any other (education) system … at the end of the day
will not be beneficial for students,” said Murray Haberman,
executive director for the California Postsecondary Education
Commission, which analyzes higher education in the state.
When asked whether the UC would see a decrease in funding as a
result of the compensation transgressions, many UC officials and
policy-makers said they did not know and could not speculate one
way or another.
With reports from Bruin wire services.