Pop goes the LAO |
The LAO has issued a report on state higher ed funding in the governor's proposed budget. Much of the report deals with CSU and
community colleges. The components on UC, as in the past, express the LAO’s dislike for the governor’s habit of adding a lump sum to the
UC budget without regard to some measure of performance (such as enrollment). Instead of the governor’s $140 for next year
(conditioned on a tuition freeze), LAO prefers an inflation adjustment which it
puts at 2.2% and says equates to $126 million. [p. 4] (LAO’s base to which the 2.2% is
applied seems to be tuition plus state funding and omits some other state
funding.) LAO suggests a freeze on both
the current in-state and out-of-state enrollment for UC. [p. 3] Indeed, it asserts at one point that UC is currently
admitting more than the old Master Plan target of the top eighth. It suggests that the legislature set tuition
as a share of costs (presumably as an alternative to a tuition deal with the governor). [p. 4] LAO suggests that
faculty are overpaid relative to other public research universities (not the
comparison-8 universities which are half private) [p. 50] and that UC costs/student are higher than
such public universities. [p. 49] It suggests the
legislature might set the division between teaching and research since costs would go down if teaching loads went up. [p. 4] In reviewing
UC’s pension, the report notes that recent changes regarding state pensions
(but not UC’s earlier changes) cap pension payments at $117,000. [p. 51]
LAO report at http://lao.ca.gov/reports/2015/budget/higher-education/hed-budget-analysis-022715.pdf
LAO report at http://lao.ca.gov/reports/2015/budget/higher-education/hed-budget-analysis-022715.pdf
All of these matters are phrased in terms of things that
might be considered or inferred. You can view the
wording as intended to be just some interesting observations and ideas that are
among many alternatives, mere possibilities. Or you can regard the wording as weasel
language that hides what would amount to a major, major change in the
standing of UC, its governance, and its longstanding role in the state.
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