LONG BEACH - Two political groups on Thursday held rallies to support preserving funding for education in the midst of the state budget crisis.

One rally was held at the central offices of the Long Beach Unified School District to protest Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's cuts to college outreach programs.

Earlier, a group called "Yes on 56' held a rally at Long Beach City College to drum up support for Proposition 56, which would lower the threshold required for legislators to pass a budget from two-thirds to 55 percent.

The ballot measure would also set aside 5 percent of surpluses for a rainy-day fund and prevent the Legislature from holding a recess until budget standoffs are resolved.

Teachers at Long Beach City College and Cal State Long Beach said the measure is need to force Sacramento to meet its June 15 deadline to pass a budget. The continual delays create harmful uncertainty in public schools' budget process, they said.

"The faculty see the effects of late budgets on our faculty and students,' said Elizabeth Hoffman, a lecturer at Cal State Long Beach.

Without a clear idea of what state funding will be, colleges are left guessing and then having to re-adjust later, she said.

With Proposition 56, "we can at least know what our funding for the CSU and (community colleges) is and do rational planning,' she added.

The rally at the Long Beach school district office was organized by the Campaign for Quality Education.

"We think (outreach programs) are very important to the state,' Yvonne Paul, the group's organizing director, said before the rally.

"These outreach resources serve students of color to get them the support and access to higher education.

"Not only do we think we should save them but we feel they should be expanded to reach more students.'