GOVERNOR SIGNS BUDGET WITH 8.2 PERCENT INCREASE FOR CSU

"We had hoped the budget would have included the compensation increase we requested for our outstanding faculty and staff. However, in a challenging budget year, this funding does provide a percentage increase that is much higher than most universities in the nation are receiving, and it provides full funding for the CSU's significant enrollment growth," said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. "This year's increase means the CSU budget has grown by more than $1 billion over the past four years."

The 2001/02 budget proposal does not include any student fee increases. The CSU annual fee of $1,428 has not increased since 1994 and is among the lowest in the nation.

The Governor provided a $62.3 million increase for an additional 8,760 full-time equivalent students predicted to enroll in 2001/02. An additional $16 million has been allocated to support year-round operations for 3,138 full-time equivalent students attending this summer. The budget also reduced the increase in the employee compensation pool from 4 percent to 2 percent.

In addition to the reduction in the compensation pool, other items removed from the proposed budget in January include: $10 million for workforce preparation and economic development; $8 million for K-12 academic preparation; $4 million for libraries; $4 million for plant maintenance; $1 million for diagnostic writing service; and $1 million for the CSU program for education and research in biotechnology.

Major items remaining in the budget include:

• $34.1 million to help compensate for natural gas cost increases.
• $11.6 million to continue development of the CSU technology infrastructure build-out and increase network capacity.
• $3 million for the final start-up investment in new campus costs at CSU Channel Islands.
• $17.5 million for the Governor's Teacher Fellowship Program, which provides $20,000 fellowships for individuals to attend teacher preparation programs and then teach in underperforming schools after attaining their teaching credentials.
• $6 million for the Governor's Education Technology Professional Development Program. The program will train teachers in the use of technology in the classroom and will support curriculum which focuses on improving the quality of teacher instruction and the level of student learning.
• $1 million for the Agricultural Research Initiative, a collaborative partnership among CSU agriculture campuses that supports high-impact applied agricultural and natural resources research, development, and technology transfer activities.
• $500,000 for marine studies as matching funds in collaboration with a federal research initiative to increase CSU applied research activities in this field.
• $650,000 to initiate a Central Valley Economic Incubator at CSU Fresno to serve high technology firms with engineering and computer science needs.