The governor recently proposed an amendment to the California Constitution that would cap spending on prisons and raise higher education funds.
This proposal is in addition to a budget that will return millions of dollars to the California State University system.
The proposed California budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will return about $255 million to the CSU system that he withdrew from the 2009-10 budget, said Chico State President Paul Zingg in an e-mail interview.
While it is good to see the funds coming to the system, it is important to remember this is not new money, Zingg said.
“It would be a restoration of state money for one-time federal money — which partially covered budget cuts in 2008-09,” he said. “So there’s a long history here of under-funding and patchwork coverage.”
The governor is also putting forth an amendment to the California Constitution that would require spending on prisons to be less than spending on higher education at all times.
The amendment would bring at least 10 percent of the annual general fund to the CSU and University of California systems, while requiring that no more than 7 percent goes to the correctional system.