A subcommittee in the California Assembly rejected Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to reduce funding for Cal Grants for the upcoming fiscal year on Wednesday, a preliminary move to shelter the state’s financial aid program from cuts.
The motion came two days after thousands of student lobbyists from across the state, including UCLA, gathered on the steps of the Capitol and met with various legislators to lobby for increased higher education funding.
The subcommittee’s 4-0 vote against the proposed cuts signified the Assembly’s lack of support for cuts to the state’s financial aid programs, said Luis Quinonez, chief of staff for subcommittee chairwoman Susan Bonilla.
Several rounds of discussions and votes still need to take place before the Legislature decides whether or not to include cuts to Cal Grants in next year’s budget plan. But the move by the subcommittee was a positive sign for those who oppose cuts to the program.
While some of the impetus to reject the proposal came from student lobbyists, the chairwoman was adamant about rejecting the plan from the beginning, Quinonez said.
Members of the higher education subcommittee voted against the bill because they believe the budget should not be balanced at the expense of university students, he said.
“We should find savings from elsewhere,” Quinonez said.
Brown proposed to cut state spending on higher education by more than $300 million as part of his 2012-2013 budget proposal, which included the GPA requirements for Cal Grants and lowered the maximum amount of the awards given to students.
A projected 250 UC students would have lost their Cal Grant funding within the first year and about 1,000 students would have lost their Cal Grant over the next four years under the proposal, said Dianne Klein, a UC spokeswoman.
Based on the subcommittee’s decision, the state will likely need to look elsewhere to save money when crafting a new budget proposal, said H.D. Palmer, a representative of the California Department of Finance. Brown is also expected to release a revised version of his proposed budget plan in May, Palmer said.
The move by the subcommittee to reject the Cal Grant reductions is very preliminary, Palmer said.
“Whether (the state takes) the money out of K-12, social services or more out of higher education is largely unknown,” Palmer said.
Typically, both the governor and the Assembly create their own budget proposals, which are re-crafted into a final spending plan.
“This is still very early in the game,” Klein said.
While the university is pleased with the subcommittee’s reaction, it is still planning for a worst-case scenario and will make changes to ensure students continue to receive financial aid, if needed, she said.