latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tuition-protests-20120312,0,3591960.story

Student anger over education cuts puts heat on lawmakers

As protests increase, and with more tuition and fee increases due this fall, legislators are under pressure to provide relief by restoring some money for higher education.

By Chris Megerian, Los Angeles Times

10:49 PM PDT, March 11, 2012

Reporting from Sacramento

The students who lined up to testify before lawmakers last week against cuts in college financial aid had only a few seconds to make their case, so Candace Washington got right to the point.

"Don't forget about us," said the 22-year-old student at Biola University, "because we won't forget about you."

Student anger has simmered as lawmakers have repeatedly cut funding for higher education in their struggle to balance the state's books, and as the universities have responded by raising tuition and fees. The Cal Grants program, which awards state funds to qualifying students at public and private universities, has also been targeted. Thousands marched on the Capitol last week in one of the largest student demonstrations there in recent years, and dozens were later arrested for trespassing.

Since the 2002-03 academic year, state spending on the University of California and the California State University systems has fallen 42% when adjusted for inflation, according to statistics from Gov. Jerry Brown's administration. Undergraduate tuition and fees have nearly tripled in roughly the same period.

In fact, in the current academic year California's public colleges and universities began relying more on student dollars than on the state budget for the first time. With more tuition and fee increases due to kick in this fall, lawmakers are under pressure to provide relief by restoring some money for higher education.

"Public higher education in California is really in a crisis, probably the most severe crisis that most of us have seen in a generation," said Jaime Regalado, emeritus professor of political science at Cal State L.A. As more students take to the streets, he said, "it's going to become harder and harder and harder for the politicians to ignore."

The state Senate recently rejected Brown's appointee as chairman of the California State University Board of Trustees because he approved a pay raise for a university president while also hiking tuition. On Wednesday, legislators rejected more than $300 million of the governor's proposed reductions in financial aid, an effort to spare the Cal Grants program from the budget ax.

Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla (D-Martinez), who chairs the education finance subcommittee in the lower house, said the vote was a signal to Brown to "go back and find the cuts somewhere else. We're drawing a line."

California has prided itself on its network of fine, affordable public universities. But money for higher education, one of the biggest chunks of the state budget, is easier to cut than some other large expenses, such as public schools and healthcare programs. For example, the California constitution requires the state to spend a minimum amount every year on K-12 education, and the federal government has blocked some cuts to Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program.

The slice into Cal Grants that lawmakers rejected — not for the first time — is the largest chunk of Brown's proposed 3.6% reduction in higher education funding for the next fiscal year. Starting in the 2013-14 budget, the governor wants to increase higher education money by 4% each year for three years. That would mean more for UC and CSU than in the current budget, though less than before steep cuts started in 2007.

The proposed increases would occur only if the governor persuades voters to raise sales levies and hike income tax rates on the state's wealthiest residents through a November ballot initiative, and if lawmakers sign off on his budget plan. Some activists are supporting a competing proposal for an income-tax surcharge on millionaires, a portion of which would be directed to UC and CSU.

Meanwhile, leaders of the Democrat-dominated Legislature are trying to convince students they're on their side.

Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles), who has made a point of meeting with student groups in recent months, is pushing a plan to fund a new scholarship program by canceling $1 billion in corporate tax breaks. But it would need a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, requiring some Republican support, and GOP lawmakers have balked at canceling tax advantages for businesses.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) is pushing his own proposal to make textbooks for many common courses accessible online free, or in print for $20 — relief from prices that can exceed $200 for some books. His bill would require a simple majority vote, which Democrats can muster on their own.

Republicans have seized on the tuition issue, accusing Democrats of failing to make higher education a priority.

"The student protesters are demonstrating against Democrat education policy," said Micah Grant, a spokesman for the state GOP.

On Monday, Steinberg addressed the protesters at the Capitol and acknowledged Democrats' role in the budget cuts. "We've cut billions of dollars, and I've hated every minute of it," Steinberg said.

As he continued, promising that things would change, he was interrupted by protesters: "Show us! Show us! Show us!"

"We have to show you," Steinberg responded. "You're right. You're right. You're right."

chris.megerian@latimes.com

Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times