Budget cuts could mean less money for Cal Poly

A state budget that would cut an additional $150 million from the California State University system (CSU), on top of the previously expected $500 million in cuts was vetoed June 15 by Governor Jerry Brown.

The budget, which required a majority vote in both houses of the state legislature, was proposed as a compromise because Brown could not gain the required Republican votes to allow a special election for new tax measures to support a larger state budget. The proposal was rejected because it was “a gimmick budget,” said Chris, a representative for Brown’s office who said he was only allowed to give his first name.

Brown’s veto means the governor’s office and state legislature will go back to the drawing board in negotiations over state finances. A new budget proposal could mean even larger cuts to the California State University (CSU) system, though a representative for Brown’s office said that specific information on the new budget is available yet.

“These ideas are still in talks, so we can’t really comment,” the representative said.

Most people believe a return to talks will mean less money for the state schools instead of more, CSU specialist official Erik Fallis said.

“I can tell you it’s not going to get better,” Fallis said. “It will probably get worse. There’s only one scenario where the cut stays at $500 million.”

The CSU system was originally told to expect to lose $500 million in funding in the upcoming fiscal year, $150 million of which would be offset by a 10 percent increase in tuition, according to the CSU Budget Central site’s “Frequently Asked Questions” page. Now, the state universities can expect as much as a $1 billion cut, Fallis said.

If the cuts remain at the predicted $500 million, the tuition increase for the 2011-2012 school year will remain at the approved 10 percent. However, if the CSU system funding is cut by $1 billion, CSU students may face a tuition hike of up to 32 percent, Fallis said.

“It will probably mean fee increases,” Fallis said. “And it will probably mean fewer students.”

The CSU Chancellor’s Office is also cutting back operations and costs by 14 percent, but cannot reduce operations much more because of the efficiency of state school operations, Fallis said.

“There’s no place to make a cut without it being immediately perceived by our key stakeholders, which is students,” Fallis said.

The key stakeholders are already feeling the reduction in funding with CSU enrollment decreases. For the 2011-2012 school year, the CSU system reduced the number of students accepted by 20,000.

“Twenty thousand students we could have served next year will not be getting into the university,” Fallis said.

If the governor approves a budget with more than $500 million in cuts, then the quality of education at CSUs throughout the state will take a hit, Fallis said.

“The CSU does not believe that we can take an additional cut in programs, service and personnel and still maintain the same quality of service,” Fallis said.

CSU officials are still debating different ways to deal with the budget cuts and no option is off the table, including a return of the furlough day, Fallis said.

At a local level, individual CSU campuses like Cal Poly will receive funding reductions as well. Without an approved budget, however, Cal Poly can’t predict the size of the cut or determine a way to deal with it, said Larry Kelley, vice president of administration and finance.

“We don’t have specific numbers about the impact of the recent legislative acts on Cal Poly’s budget,” Kelley said. “We will be watching developments closely over the next few months.”