In a nod to the CSU’s rapidly growing enrollment, the governor’s budget proposal provides the CSU with an additional $105.8 million to fund a 5 percent student enrollment increase for 2003/04. It also calls for $45 million to partially fund the 10,500 students that the CSU enrolled without funding last year.

However, the CSU will need to accommodate all of those students while managing some of the deepest cuts it has ever received. The governor’s budget proposal breaks down the $326 million in reductions as follows:

• $142.8 million to be cut from the CSU base budget for all programs and services;
• $58.1 million to be cut from academic and institutional support program funding, which includes such areas as libraries, telecommunications, and public safety;
• $53.5 million in savings by increasing the student-faculty ratio from 18.9:1 to 19.9:1;
• $53.2 million to be cut from student services program funding (a 20 percent reduction);
• $12.6 million to be cut from CSU outreach funding (a 50 percent reduction);
• $2 million in savings by eliminating the CalTeach teacher recruitment program;
• $2 million in savings by eliminating the bilingual teacher recruitment program;
• $1.4 million to be cut from the Center for California Studies (a 50 percent reduction);
• $450,000 to be cut from public service program funding.

In addition, the governor’s budget does not provide any funding for the $78.6 million in mandatory cost increases that the CSU is facing for the coming year. That figure includes costs for faculty and non-faculty compensation increases, health benefit rate increases, insurance premium increases, and new space. Since these are mandatory costs, the CSU will need to find the funds for these items elsewhere in its budget. 

On a positive note, the governor has called for the acceleration of construction projects using bond funds approved by voters last year. That includes funds from Proposition 47, which will support capital improvement projects at all 23 CSU campuses. 

The governor’s budget proposal now goes to California’s Senate and Assembly budget committees, which will hold hearings on and debate various budgetary options over the next several months. In May, Gov. Davis will release the “May Revise,” an updated version of the budget that is based on the April forecast of state revenues and that may show a change in the state’s estimated deficit. The governor and the legislature are scheduled to approve a final budget by July 1, the first day of the 2003/04 fiscal year. More info from the Department of Finance.