LAO Continues to Support UC Budget Cut Including Cut in Current Year

The Legislative Analyst, in a slide presentation to the legislature, continues to argue that the governor's cuts are reasonable, given the magnitude of the state budget crisis, and that the cut should be partially in the current year rather than all next year. Slide #7 of the presentation states:

LAO assessment: proposed General Fund savings are reasonable.

* Given the magnitude of the state’s budget shortfall and the universities’ current-year augmentations, we believe the magnitude of the proposed cuts is reasonable.

* However, we recommend achieving some of the General Fund savings by reducing the universities’ current-year augmentations.

The full presentation is at http://www.lao.ca.gov/handouts/education/2011/Higher_Education_Funding_Overview_012611.pdf

Note: Keep in mind that higher education in some of the slides includes the community colleges, not just UC and CSU.