An annual public education advocacy effort in Sacramento carried a sense of fresh urgency after the collapse of bipartisan budget talks last week.
About 200 higher education advocates, including chancellors, faculty, staff and students, met with legislators in the Capitol for “Public Higher Education Day” on Tuesday.
All three public college systems ““ the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges ““ were represented.
The driving message: No more cuts beyond the $1.4 billion already approved by Jerry Brown.
Student Regent-designate Alfredo Mireles said the first round of cuts was understood as a condition of fiscal crisis.
But a second round as a result of failed budget talks is “beyond anything we’re willing to work with,” he said.
Mireles has been a student in each type of public college. He transferred to UC Berkeley from community college and is now taking graduate seminars through Sacramento State. He said he left the event feeling cautiously optimistic.
“I don’t want to trade in false hope, but there is a sense here amongst senior staff and legislators that we can’t roll over and play dead,” Mireles said.
UC President Mark Yudof attended nine different meetings during the day, including one with Gov. Jerry Brown, said UC spokesman Steve Montiel.
Yudof has requested a five-year plan to improve the UC’s ability to plan its budget. But that has to be put on hold until the issue of finding revenue is resolved, Montiel said.
When speaking with reporters after the meetings, Brown reiterated his commitment to higher education, Montiel added.
The governor said he would continue to push for tax extensions despite the faded possibility of a measure on the June ballot.
A November initiative is among the options to raise revenue. K-12 teachers’ unions have also proposed creating a new upper-income tax bracket, Mireles said.
A rally and concert event to garner support for higher education will take place April 14 in downtown Los Angeles, said USAC President Jasmine Hill.
“When the talks fell down, it became all the more relevant,” Hill said.
The event, called “Can You Hear Us Now,” starts at noon and will include local acts and celebrity appearances, she said.