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Higher Education
Major Accomplishments in 2006-07
The current year budget for Higher Education reflects significant new investments that focus on the Governor's goals to: preserve high quality instruction, provide access for all students, ensure affordability for students and families, and continue high-priority initiatives begun in prior years of this Administration that address pressing current issues facing the state. Those initiatives include increasing the numbers of high quality science and math teachers in our public K-12 school system, increasing the supply of registered nurses to address statewide clinical shortages in all areas of the state, and reinvigorating California's career technical education system in our public schools to ensure every student has the opportunity to find gainful employment and contribute to California's preeminence in a highly technical world economy. The magnitude of funding increases in the current year reflect the Governor's commitment to fulfilling these goals.
The CCC current budget, in part driven by the Proposition 98 guarantee, reflects record level increases in overall funding, which reflects the Governor's priority to ensure the nation's largest higher education system can deliver a high-quality education for all students that can benefit and at the lowest student cost possible. A rigorous accountability system pursuant to Chapter 73, Statutes of 2005 (SB 63) has been implemented to ensure the ability of policy makers to hold districts accountable for improved student outcomes.
Specific accomplishments included in the 2006-07 budget that contribute to the Governor's goals are as follows:
Increased Funding for all Segments-The current budget reflects total funding of $18.7 billion, including $13.2 billion General Fund and Proposition 98 sources for all segments of Higher Education. These amounts represent a 6.6-percent increase in total funds and an 8.4-percent increase in General Fund and Proposition 98 sources over the revised 2005-06 Budget.
Ensuring Access for All Students-The current budget provides more than $209 million for growth in enrollments estimated to serve over 36,000 additional full-time students within the three segments. The CSU and the UC received $51.0 million and $61.3 million, respectively, reflecting a 2.5-percent enrollment increase sufficient to add 5,149 students for the UC and 8,490 students for the CSU. The CCC received $97.5 million for a 2-percent enrollment increase, sufficient for 23,000 additional students. When combined with declining enrollment funding in the base, the budget provides sufficient funding for a total of 47,000 additional students.
Preserving Quality and Purchasing Power-The current budget provides more than $450 million to address cost increases and discretionary enhancements for the three major segments. This figure reflects a 3-percent increase for the UC and the CSU ($80.5 million and $75.8 million, respectively) and a 5.92-percent cost-of-living-adjustment for the CCC apportionments ($294.4 million).
Ensuring Affordability for Students and Families-The current budget provides increases of almost $220 million toward this objective. Over $129 million was provided to maintain fees at the 2005 academic year level for the UC and the CSU, reflecting an additional state cost of $75 million for the UC and $54.4 million for the CSU. $40 million was provided to reduce community college fees effective in the spring of 2007 to ensure that higher education is not priced beyond the means of students and families. $50.7 million was provided for the CSAC's Cal Grant program, including $38.8 million for anticipated growth in costs that reflects an offsetting cost reduction of $28.7 million associated with the buy-out of the 8-percent undergraduate fee increases at the UC and CSU. The budget provided an additional $11.9 million to increase the maximum Cal Grant award for new recipients at non-public colleges and universities from $8,322 to $9,708.
Career Technical Education Initiative-The current budget includes $100 million to advance career technical education (CTE) in California's K-12 and Community College systems. This includes $20 million in ongoing funding to support CTE programs designed to help reform this critical element of instruction offered to public secondary school students through partnerships with the Community Colleges. Collaborative efforts between the community colleges and K-12 CTE programs include: sequencing and articulating courses to ensure that students will not need to repeat courses when they move on to community colleges, developing curricula that include technical programs in emerging as well as traditional career paths, and expanding courses to ensure more students have access to the skills needed to attain gainful employment. The Budget provides one-time funding of $80 million to K-12 public schools and community colleges for purchase of CTE equipment and materials. Finally, the 2006 Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2006, approved by the voters in November, provides $500 million for CTE facilities.
Science and Math Teacher Initiative-The current budget continues the progress begun in 2005 by providing additional increases totaling $1.5 million, including $375,000 to the UC to provide $125,000 for each of the three UC campuses remaining to implement the initiative system wide, and $1.1 million for the CSU to expand the program statewide. The Governor's Science and Math Teacher Initiative, announced in May 2005 with leaders from the UC, the CSU, and the business community, presented a plan to significantly increase the number of science and math teachers trained at the UC and the CSU. Under the initiative, the UC system will increase its annual production of credentialed science and math teachers from 250 per year to 1,000 per year by 2010. The CSU system will double its production of science and math teachers from 748 to 1,496 during this same time period by expanding its teacher preparation programs and increasing its efforts to recruit talented students into these teaching disciplines.
Nursing Initiative-The current budget provides $8.2 million in new investments to address the statewide nursing shortage through the higher education segments and K-12 system for a total of almost $32 million in 2006-07. Since 2004, this Administration has invested over $67 million to address the state's clinical and nursing instructor shortages. The current year budget augmentations address: faculty recruitment to support previously funded nursing expansions in the CCC and four-year segments; additional increases for undergraduate nursing slots in the budget year and start-up costs for a significant increase in undergraduate nursing programs at the CSU for the following fiscal year; additional resources for Community Colleges to address nursing program attrition as well as funding to establish on-line nursing faculty and clinical placement registries; and recruitment incentives for nursing graduates needed to help meet clinical nursing position needs for state agencies administered by the CSAC.
Community College Funding Reform-In September of 2006, the Governor signed SB 361, a landmark funding reform bill for the community colleges (Chapter 631, Statutes of 2006). This bill resolved long standing disparities in per-student funding levels among community college districts by ensuring that colleges receive equal levels of per student funding support. This legislation implemented a streamlined funding formula for community colleges that preserves equalized funding rates for all colleges in the future, increases transparency, and implements a more rational growth formula to ensure equitable access. The formula recognizes efforts by colleges that elect to serve additional students beyond their funded growth levels in the high-priority core instructional areas of transfer, basic skills, and workforce preparation. To fully implement these reforms, the current budget provides an additional $189.4 million, including $159.4 million to fully equalize funding for college credit student workload for all districts and $30 million to enhance the quality of non-credit course sequences aimed at preparing those not ready for college level work to succeed in pursuing college level career technical certificate programs or to pursue an Associate of Arts or Bachelor's degree.
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CHAPTER HIGHLIGHTS for
Higher Education Back to Top
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Budget Summary - Higher Education (pdf * - 181K)
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Provides this entire Higher Education Chapter in pdf format.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Back to Top
Proposed Budget Detail - Higher Education
Displays Proposed Budget Detail information for Higher Education.
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