CUCFA Opposes "Fully Funded" Language in Proposed Budget Amendment
On June 8, Joe Kiskis sent the following letter to the members of the Senate Budget Committee:
The Honorable Denise Moreno Ducheny
Chair, Senate Budget Committee
Room 5035
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Senator Ducheny,
The Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA) is gravely concerned by the modified language to the budget bill approved by the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee 1 on June 4, 2008. It reads:
"Add Provision X. It is the intent of the Legislature to treat the university's 2008-09 actual student enrollment and compensation costs as fully funded, with any budget augmentations in 2009-10 to apply to new workload costs only."
This does nothing to solve the budget problems for FY 2009 but would have a negative impact on the University in all later years. We strongly urge you to remove this language, which prejudices University funding beyond FY 2009.
Since 2000, the State has slashed real-dollar support per UC student by nearly 30 percent. California's 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education created the world's best higher education system by uniting full access with top educational standards. This combination requires public investment in core instruction and research. As a direct result of these cuts in recent years, the University has been forced to break the Master Plan's promises of full access to top-quality education and fully-funded enrollment growth. The effect of the proposed language would be to permanently lock in a degraded quality of education at the same time that drastic increases in student fees are forcing students and their families to pay more and get less.
Neither private funding nor further increases in student fees can produce the level of investment needed for top quality and broad access, as demonstrated in the UC Academic Senate analyses at: The Cuts Report and The Future's Report
For decades, California showed the world how to grow and prosper by investing in human potential. UC faculty are dedicated to this vision. As a state, California must renew the promises of quality and access in the Master Plan. It would be a grave error to adopt budget language which not only fails to fund the University at an adequate level in FY 2009 but also locks in the disinvestment that has already compounded in recent years.
If I can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Joe Kiskis
Vice President for External Relations,
Council of UC Faculty Associations