When it comes to education, the governor's budget proposal is good news, bad news, and expensive news.

The good news clearly is aimed locally at the Chico Unified School District.

Up until Friday, the district was anticipating another $1.8 million in cuts for 2004-05, on top of years of other budget constrictions.

"The last two years we have had unprecedented midyear cuts. Because of that, we budgeted very conservatively for the next year," said CUSD trustee Rick Anderson.

That conservative budgeting was based on the expectation the governor would suspend the Proposition 98 regulations that otherwise would have put another $4 billion into public education statewide.

However, after meeting with groups representing all shades of the public school spectrum, the governor announced the state would release an added $2 billion to the K-12 schools, rather than suspending all of the new money.

For CUSD, that amounts to $2.1 million in unanticipated revenue.

"We are not out of the woods, but it is a whole lot better than it was yesterday," said Anderson.

He explained there are still added costs coming for health care and some other items. But even so, the new money will take the district near a break-even point.

In the California State University system, which includes Chico State University, the news is far less positive.

The governor's budget plan would cut $311 million from the university system budget, but would increase fees to the tune of $101.5 million.

"The news is not good, but it is not as bad as anticipated," said Chico State's interim President Scott McNall in a message sent to the campus community.

The budget, as described, would translate to a 7.2 percent cut in funding.

The plan calls for a 10 percent increase in fees for resident undergraduate students, taking the fees from $2,046 a year to $2,256. The actual fees at Chico State and all other CSU campuses are higher. Besides the state fee, which is uniform across the system, each campus has its own local fees as well.

The budget also says graduate students will see their state fees jump 40 percent, going from $2,256 to $3,158.

Under the proposed budget, the freshman class for next fall will be reduced by 10 percent, meaning about 3,800 individuals will be turned away.

The governor anticipates the majority of those people will instead go to California community colleges such as Butte College.

With that shift, the budget calls for an additional $125.1 million going to the state community colleges, to allow for 3 percent growth.

The proposed budget also calls for bumping the fees at Butte and the other community colleges from $18 a unit to $26 a unit, a 44 percent hike.

Matt Jackson, Butte College vice president for education and student services, said the $26 per unit fee was exactly what Gov. Gray Davis proposed one year ago. But that was before the new governor's budget plan was made public Friday.

He also said while $8 per unit may not seem like a breathtaking increase, it will have a "significant impact."

"I think it is a big deal even for middle-class folks ... because most people live on the margin," said Jackson.