Yesterday, I posted a blog on Flash Report that disputed the numbers Governor Schwarzenegger used to compare California’s spending of prisons and higher education.
He said during his State of the State speech that California spends 45 percent more on prisons than on higher education. I replied that the state spent 7.3 percent of the total state budget on prisons and 9.7 percent of the total state budget on higher education, which differs vastly from the Governor’s State of the State numbers.
Keep in mind I was using the Governor’s own 2009-10 budget numbers!
Here’s the Governor’s chart (I’ve highlighted prisons in yellow and higher ed in green):
(Click on the chart to enlarge it.)
Today, I read a Flash blog that says the Governor’s administration defends its numbers by excluding the amount California spends on community colleges. Did anyone tell the students who attend community colleges, or the professors who teach at community colleges, or the parents who pay for community colleges about the administration’s downgrading of our two-year colleges?
California Education Code Section 66010 gives a clear definition of community colleges:
(a) Public higher education consists of (1) the California Community Colleges, (2) the California State University, and each campus, branch, and function thereof, and (3) each campus, branch, and function of the University of California.
And there’s the California Master Plan for Higher Education, which describes community college transfers as "an essential component" of California’s "commitment to access."
It goes on to say:
"UC and CSU are to establish a lower division to upper division ratio of 40:60 in order to provide transfer opportunities in to the upper division for community college students. The goal was that UC ad CSU would enroll at least one community college transfer student for each two freshmen enrolled. All eligible California Community College transfer students are to be provided a place in the upper division and are to be given priority over freshmen in the admissions process."
Claiming that California spends vastly more on prisons than on higher education might make for a good sound bite, but the facts simply don’t support the claim.
January 7th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Senator,
I for one disagree with you. Given the mismanagement and destruction of our public education system by radical leftists and their idiotic policies, a college degree nowadays is arguably yesterdays high school diploma.
Community colleges are now in large part a collecting pool for high school students that never learned basic academic skills. So, I can see how some might not include them in the funding levels for higher education.
January 26th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Joseph:
You meant to say: “students WHO never learned…”
That’s the type of writing rule taught in English 101 — even at the community colleges.