Recently, one of my weekly syndicated columns at Zocalo Public Square looked at the wrongheaded way Californians think about their own public university systems, particularly the UC. I made a brief, critical reference to the Legislative Analyst’s Office work on this. Now I’d like to expand on it, in hopes that LAO will do some serious reconsideration of how it considers higher education. Here’s the problem: LAO is way too focused on higher ed as it relates to the budget. And so it has argued for limited enrollment growth at CSU and flat enrollment at UC.
There’s a wonky word that the LAO folks will understand for their position: it’s nuts. Applications to universities in California and elsewhere are way up. And California needs to produce many more college graduates for itself. And California has a huge interest both in luring college kids from other states and keeping the California kids it has paid to educate...
The LAO also thinks that the legislature, which has systematically disinvested in higher ed over the past couple generations (albeit because it has few options given the constitutional budget messes the voters have made), should have more of a role in higher education funding decision. I realize it’s the “Legislative” Analyst, but really? Why should the state be able to provide less money and have more power? ...
Full piece at http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2015/07/the-lao-is-getting-higher-ed-wrong/
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