California at a crossroads
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2010 AT MIDNIGHT
When you begin to assess our state’s economic and educational landscape, you will survey a scene that is bleak at best. You may find yourself asking: What happened to the golden age ofCalifornia, a time when our state’s higher education system held promise for every student, and the middle class flourished? Aside from the intractable budget problems that plague our capital, our higher education priorities have become inexcusably twisted, offering a more predictable future for an inmate behind bars than for a high school senior.
This transition to a new governor and Legislature puts California at a crossroads. They must now decide if we will continue on the same path to throw good money after bad or if we will establish new priorities that direct us toward a more successful future. The voters were clear this year; we don’t need new taxes, we need common-sense allocation of our existing resources.
Over the past 10 years, the state Health and Human Services Agency has seen its budget grow by 41 percent and corrections has grown by 72 percent, but higher education’s share – California State University and the University of California – has grown by a meager 0.8