Grateful

As we noted when we presented an analysis of the governor's budget proposal for 2024-25 last week, the UC prez always is "grateful" for what is proposed.* In this case, despite the fact that the increased allocation supposedly guaranteed by the compact is not included in the proposal, President Drake is indeed grateful. He notes that the missing allocation will - again supposedly - be included in the following year. In fact, there is no way of knowing whether that will happen. The budget is one year at a time and is ultimately enacted by the governor. The governor can subtract with his line-item veto but he can't add.

Unsaid is the fact that UC can lobby the legislature to include the deferral in the coming year, despite what the governor has proposed.

University of California President Michael V. Drake, M.D., today (Jan. 10) issued the following statement on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed 2024-25 budget:

“Governor Newsom’s proposed budget reflects his recognition of the University of California’s ongoing role in creating public good through research, public service and education. The University is a trust for every Californian. Despite a growing deficit and continued fiscal uncertainty, the governor is making thoughtful decisions during an extraordinarily difficult budget period by implementing but deferring a 5 percent funding increase pledged in the multi-year funding compact for the University. The University will receive two years’ worth of state base budget increases in 2025-26. These decisions will position our state and its students for a prosperous future once budgetary challenges subside. During economic downturns, the University of California’s role in California’s economic development is even more important and we are grateful to state leaders for their visionary leadership and commitment to maintaining the funding compact. Through this funding, our campuses have been able to expand admission and enroll even more California students while also recruiting and retaining additional top-tier faculty.

“The University remains committed to the people of California and we will continue to make vital contributions to the lives of every Californian, as we have since our founding over 150 years ago — whether that’s through our health enterprise, wildfire response, or through the discovery of clean energy at our national labs. We look forward to working with the state Legislature and Gov. Newsom in the months ahead to finalize a budget that sustains the University’s research, public service and education mission.”

Source: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-statement-gov-newsoms-2024-25-state-budget-proposal.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-governors-january-budget-proposal.html.