Sacramento, CA, United States (AHN) – Faculty and students at California State University campuses held rallies on Wednesday to protest cuts to education and tuition hikes.
CSU, the nation’s largest university system, is facing an already approved 18 percent budget cut, representing a loss of about $500 million. The cuts, however, may increase since the budget proposal from Gov. Jerry Brown partly relies on tax extensions, which Republicans have refused to support.
The demonstrations involved sit-ins, teach-ins and a mock trial and a funeral march supported by unions including the California Faculty Association. Similarly peaceful rallies were held in Massachusetts and Portland as states struggle with record deficits and cuts to public schools.
California, the world’s eighth-largest economy, is facing a a $26.6 billion shortfall. The governor’s budget slashes funds for higher education by $1.4 billion but requires a June ballot to approve revenue-generating tax extensions that will prevent further cuts.
CSU officials have warned that anything beyond the half billion reduction would force them to drastically raise tuition and reduce enrollment. Republican opposition to the tax extensions could result in an “all cuts” budget, a situation that could lead to a $1 billion reduction, or 35 percent of state funding for CSU’s 23 campuses.
The governor last month ended negotiations with the GOP after what he said was “an ever changing list of collateral demands” in return for support for a June ballot. He met with CSU officials in early April and assured that an all-cuts budget was “unacceptable.”
However, it remains unclear if a compromise will be reached in time to allow voters to decide on whether to extend taxes that are expiring this summer. Under the state constitution, tax extensions require the approval of two Republicans from the Assembly and two from the Senate before a special election.
At least one Democrat, Assemblymember Norma Torres, urged her GOP counterparts to “do their job.”
“I hope [the] rallies and marches across the state are heard by those state representatives who refuse to vote and support Gov. Brown’s budget proposal,” Torres said in a statement. “We must do our job if we want to protect our public schools from deeper and drastic cuts. We share this responsibility and we cannot continue to burden our students by making it harder for them to go to college.”
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