Andrew Albright and Sydney Fang authored this op-ed.
On Jan. 5th, Governor Jerry Brown released his proposed budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, laying out how he will address the $9.2 billion budget deficit. His budget includes cuts to services such as education and welfare, in addition to taxes to alleviate some of these cuts. These taxes include a tax on high-earning Californians and a half-cent increase on the sales tax.
The proposed taxes will be on the November 2012 ballot, and much of the revenues generated from these taxes will go directly to the community college, CSU and UC systems. The Higher Education budget component is a significant improvement on past proposals, but it does not go far enough to maintain the current standard of education in California and instead creates new obstacles to the accessibility of education.
An example of one such obstacle is a proposal to raise the minimum GPA requirement for Cal Grant A and Cal Grant B applicants. Many low-income and middle-income students rely on Cal Grants as an important source of financial aid and would be most affected by this new requirement.
The intent of the Governor’s proposal is to focus the most resources on students who are most likely to complete their degrees. However, the new GPA requirement will deny 26,000 students across the state access to Cal Grants A and B, and consequently, many of these students will have an additional financial burden that will diminish their opportunities for higher education.
Students who would have qualified for Cal Grants under the previous GPA requirement need this financial aid the most. The governor’s proposal would also disproportionately affect low-income students because, while the minimum GPA requirement for Cal Grant A has changed from 3.0 to 3.25, the equivalent requirement for Cal Grant B (specifically for low-income students) has changed from 2.0 to 2.7; such a change would reduce the number of high-need students who would otherwise receive aid.
Another issue arises in the governor’s proposal to phase out the student loan assumption program for teachers. Under this program, teachers working in schools that “serve a large population of students from low-income families” or schools that “rank in the lowest 20 percentile of the Academic Performance Index” will have a portion of their outstanding student loans forgiven, according to the California Student Aid Commission. In other words, these are teachers working in schools that truly need them the most. The elimination of this program is nothing more than a band-aid solution to balance the budget; However, it does not deal, in any substantive manner, with the real problem of a broken education system. Furthermore, it only exacerbates the disparity of resource allocation to schools in this state, pushing schools in lower-income neighborhoods to the back of the school bus. This is a program that directly benefits low-income families and schools, and in this time of cuts, the governor should not be balancing the budget on the backs of those who can least afford it.
While many issues exist in this proposal, an important aspect of the Governor’s budget is the stable funding source for California public universities. The Governor proposes that “the state will increase its… contribution to each institution’s prior year base by a minimum of four percent per year… contingent upon the passage of the Governor’s tax initiative.” If voters approve the new tax initiative, each community college, UC and CSU will receive an increase of four percent in funding each year through 2016. This funding could begin alleviating damage to public higher education caused by the state’s disinvestment from education in recent years. However, if the taxes do not pass, UCs and CSUs collectively could face a cut of $400 million. Regardless, it is refreshing to see the governor advocate renewed taxes to provide a stable and increasing source of revenue to institutions of higher learning. Now it is imperative that students make their voices heard and turn out to the polls this November to secure the future of higher education.
Andrew Albright and Sydney Fang are ASUC senators with the CalSERVE party.
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I am sorry but I am appalled that you would sign a bill for illegals to get funding for schools, but the american’s born here you want to make it harder for us to get our education? This is such a ridiculous idea. i am 3 months from graduating a 2 year program and you just SCREWED ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh buy jose from mexico can get money to go to school!!!! this is HORRID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
how can the goverment expect us to back them up when they do things against the people they are supposed to represent? YOU KNOW AMERICANS!!!! OH I AM PISSED!!!!!
Do you really believe the intent of raising the GPA requirement (denying 26,000 legal CA students of aid) is to focus the resources on those most likely to complete their degree? It’s probably more likely this new requirement is to allow for more funds to be available to fund the Dream Act kids. What GPA requirement (if any) do the Dream Act kids have?
Oh, I’m sure none. The lefties will claim that they are so disadvantaged that any attempts to enforce academic standards will be construed as “racist”.
Knock it off, don’t give them any ideas.
What’s going to happen when the productive people who are being targeted with higher taxes say “Screw California”, buy a house or condo in NV, TX or some other state with no income taxes, and declare residency there? They will no longer pay California state income taxes. Businesses and individuals have been fleeing the anti-business and anti-prosperity taxation and regulatory environment for some time now, and raising taxes will just increase the rate of flight. Meanwhile, between sanctuary cities and the Dream Act, this state is sending out a welcome invitation for people south of the border to break the law and be rewarded with taxpayer freebies. If you think California is in bad shape now, what do you think is going to happen when the people paying the higher taxes are replaced by people who make no net contribution to the tax base? Or perhaps flooding the state with unskilled, uneducated and ignorant non-English speaking campesinos who can be manipulated into joining the Democrat Party voter base with taxpayer-funded handouts is more important than your own future?
The out migration of capital and talent started years ago. Libs are blind to cause and effect in their never ending quest for social justice.
Watch Cali slide further down the shitter to third world state status in the years ahead as dead-enders flock to this Lib infested state.
As a Cal alum, I moved out last year. Hasta la vista Cali.
I believe it’s people like you and “libsrclowns” that make so much of this difficult. It seems to me that you guys don’t care about the things that are actually important. If you don’t agree with raising taxes, what do you think is the right solution? Cut more? That obviously isn’t going to help education. What the Democrats in California are trying to do (but haven’t been able to do because of Republican partisanship) is get a stable source of revenue back into the state so that we can fund our educational system. Doesn’t that matter?
And no one needs your bigoted diatribes, especially when they’re huge generalizations against people you don’t even know.
[I believe it's people like you and "libsrclowns" that make so much of
this difficult. It seems to me that you guys don't care about the things
that are actually important. If you don't agree with raising taxes,
what do you think is the right solution?]
The correct solution is to CUT SPENDING. The problem isn’t a lack of funds – the problem is that the Democrats want to spend money on things that are NOT mandated under the California constitution, that do NOT benefit the taxpayers as a whole, but PANDER to special groups merely for the sake of buying their votes. When the State of California has money to pay for the education of people who aren’t even here LEGALLY, then they are spending too much money. This state has the second highest income taxes in the country already. How about restoring some sanity into the fiscal process instead of hitting up the taxpayers for more money when we’re already in a severe recession as it is?
[And no one needs your bigoted diatribes]
Ah, yes, the usual whining and accusations of racism/sexism/bigotry when the children can’t win an argument based on facts or logic.