CALIFORNIA FACULTY ASSOCIATION
California State University, Sacramento

STATE RECEIVES FEDERAL RECOVERY MONEY FOR EDUCATION — BUT CSU STILL IN THE HOLE

The federal government attempted to revive California’s fast-deteriorating educational systems last week with a multi-billion dollar cash infusion, but the money will do little to soothe cash-strapped state colleges and universities. 

California was the first state to apply for – and receive – additional federal stimulus money for education. Of the $3.1 billion sent to the state, $537 million will go to the CSU and UC systems.

Yet, despite the inflow of cash to the system, faculty leaders said the money will not avert drastic cuts to classes and jobs because the state’s elected leaders have already slashed the CSU’s and UC’s state funding, knowing that this federal help was on the way.

In the case of the CSU’s 2009/10 budget, the governor slashed $255 million from his plan for state funding and promised to replace it with stimulus money.  Some weeks later, he cut his planned state funding for the CSU by another $50 million because, supposedly, he calculated there would not be enough stimulus money being sent to him by the feds. Now he has decided to give the CSU $268 million of the stimulus money for the coming academic year.

Bottom line, the CSU is shorted $37 million in the stimulus deal — leaving a deeper hole than before.

“The end result of this is that we are further behind than where we started,” said CFA President Lillian Taiz.

“President Barack Obama and his administration intended that this money be used to help the university meet the needs of our students and instead our elected leaders in California have used it as a perverse excuse to carve more money out of the public higher education budget.”