Budget Update from Pat Gantt

Pat Gantt, CSUEU President, sent this budget update out yesterday:

From: Gantt, Pat
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 11:45 AM
To: Undisclosed recipients:
Subject: January 30, 2008 Budget Update

Dear CSUEU Board Members, Activists and Field staff:
The latest development is that the letters( attached) have been sent to the Governor and Legislature.

January 30, 2008 Budget Update
This a follow up to the last budget report. In the CSU Trustee meeting last week the Chancellor spoke emphatically about how all the CSU groups are working together on the budget. In his remarks he created a strike force of his senior vice chancellors to work with all groups on the budget fight and make this the highest priority. The unions had previously worked on a draft letter that we would all sign off on but had not seen the final copy as of that date. The Chancellor’s remarks were off the cuff and not rehearsed. The text of the letters to the Governor and Legislature are enclosed in this message. This is a first in the CSU system and all of our efforts will be needed to restore the cuts the Governor has proposed.
The past Monday I attended the Assembly budget subcommittee no.2-Higher Education. The committee reviewed the Governor’s budget and the impacts on the State Library, CPEC, UC, Hastings College of Law, CSU, and Calif. Student Aid Commission. The Department of Finance, Legislative Analysts Office (LAO), and representatives of each agency testified.
The CSU remarked on the impact of the cuts :

• Student enrollment
• CA economy/investment
• $312 million -Unallocated cut
• $73 million.-student fee buyout

This series of budget cuts comes only three years after the CSU general fund support was reduced by $522 Million during the 2002-03 and 2004-05 fiscal years. The CSU has never recovered from those cuts but has provided increased access to the CSU by 23,000 students. The affordability and access to the CSU is a key part of the Master Plan for Higher Education. The CSU does have a positive impact on the economy as it returns $4.41 to the economy for every $1 invested by the state. The CSU is one of the factors in driving the state economy and not every state agency can make that claim.
The committee took no action that day. It is clear that the Legislature has no answers to the budget problem at this time.

If you need some information on the California Budget Process we have a guide posted on the CSEUEU webpage.


Pat Gantt, President
CSUEU

Attachments:

• Letter to Governor Schwarzenegger about CSU budget
• Letter to Senator Perata about CSU budget
• Letter to Speaker Fabian Nuñez about CSU budget