CAL POLY - In the next two decades, Cal Poly plans to admit an additional 3,000 students.

And the university must continue to build facilities -- even in tough economic times -- to accommodate this rising enrollment to about 21,000 students, university President Warren Baker said in a speech Monday.

He also urged voters to approve a March statewide bond measure that will bring Cal Poly millions of dollars to build mammoth centers for architecture, science and math.

"As the economy turns around, we expect more applicants to seek Cal Poly," he said before a Fall Conference crowd of several hundred faculty and staff at the Performing Arts Center. "The increase, however, will not occur until new academic and support facilities are ready and our budget recovers."

Due to state cuts, Cal Poly has an approximate $154 million budget this school year -- a reduction of $15 million from last year. To make ends meet, the school has left job vacancies open, reduced travel budgets and limited campus maintenance, among other moves. The university has not laid off any full-time employees.

Because of this fiscal shortfall, the university cut back on its enrollment by about 500 students this fall -- projecting an enrollment this year around 18,000. But the students who are enrolled are taking an all-time high number of classes.

Even with the shaky state funding, the university will forge ahead with grand construction projects. They include a 2,700-bed campus apartment complex; a 72-unit faculty housing development; an architecture building; Centennial Park, a large lawn area with a fountain; the Center for Science and Mathematics; and an expansion of the Kennedy Library.

The session's keynote speaker was state Sen. Bruce McPherson, a Santa Cruz Republican who represents San Luis Obispo County.

McPherson, a 1965 Cal Poly journalism graduate, first joked that is was great to be back in San Luis Obispo because "any place is better than the state Capitol this year."

The senator advocated a series of financial reforms that could avoid such spectacles as this year's $38 billion state budget shortfall. He rallied for a two-year budget cycle and the establishment of a 3 percent reserve, about $2 billion, to help meet budget disasters.

Some other highlights of Monday's Fall Conference session:

• Last September, Baker outlined his top three goals for the year -- improving civility, diversity and graduation rates.

After the session, Provost Paul Zingg reported that the school has started to increase its minority enrollments through outreach programs.

And by June, Cal Poly students will be able to use a "degree audit" Web page to find out what classes they need to take for graduation. This will help students make better class choices as they prepare to earn degrees, Zingg said.

• Baker said he is "gravely concerned" that California's K-12 schools are not adequately preparing students for careers in math and science. So to do its part, Cal Poly plans to graduate more K-12 math and science teachers, offer scholarships to incoming math and science students and conduct more outreach to these schools. This will be funded, in part, by private donations and grants.

• This fall quarter, which starts Sept. 22, marks Baker's 25th year at the helm of Cal Poly. In a previous interview with The Tribune, the president offered a rough timeline of when he thinks he'll retire -- between December 2004 and September 2006.