Protests planned for today at Cal State campuses
"Take Class Action: Demand Quality Education"
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Union-organized protests against budget cuts to the California State University system are planned for today at all of its campuses.
The aim of "Take Class Action: Demand Quality Education'' is "to bring greater public attention to what's going to happen to the CSU if we have a billion-dollar cut to the system,'' said Teri Yamada, president of the Cal State University Long Beach chapter of the California Faculty Association, the
union that represents the system's faculty and the event's organizer.
"It's incomprehensible how it's going to impact the entire CSU. It will not be the same institution it was before.''
The recently adopted state budget cut the system's funding by $500 million to $2.2 billion, the same amount as 1999 when there were 100,000 fewer students in the system, according to Claudia Keith, the Cal State University's assistant vice chancellor of public affairs.
An additional $500 million cut is possible if Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to extend or restore a series of tax increases originally approved in 2009 is not approved, Keith said.
To reverse the budget cuts, the association supports "a more progressive'' tax system, an oil and gas severance tax and Brown's proposal to extend or restore the tax increases, Yamada told City News Service.
Legislative Republicans oppose putting Brown's proposal on a special election ballot because "the public has been asked many times recently to raise taxes or to make it easier for the Legislature to raise taxes and has rejected every request at the ballot box,'' and "continued high taxation is
exactly the wrong thing to do during perilous economic times and in the face of a weak recovery,'' said Assemblyman Donald P. Wagner, R-Irvine.
A 12.5 percent oil and gas severance tax, as proposed in AB 1326 by Assemblyman Warren Furutani, D-Harbor Gateway, would cause unemployment in the oil and gas industries, as the additional cost to drill new wells in California "would make it very difficult attract investors,'' according to Rock Zierman, the chief executive officer of the California Independent Petroleum
Association, a trade association representing approximately 450 independent crude oil and natural gas producers.
Protestors at the California State University campuses angered by budget cuts "should know that Senate Republicans provided Gov. Brown a path to a bipartisan budget solution, but the governor halted budget negotiations over two weeks ago,'' said Jann Taber, communications director for Senate Republican Leader Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga.
Brown "continues to speak with Republicans who have an interest in being part of the solution,'' said Evan Westrup, Brown's deputy press secretary.
The vast majority of African American college-going students in this state go to California’s Community Colleges—still one of the truly great bargains in America. That being said, there are plenty of current problems in the process.
LONG BEACH, Calif.—The California State University Board of Trustees today approved a 5 percent mid-year tuition increase and a 10 percent hike for the 2011-12 academic year.
The board's Finance Committee approved the tuition hikes Tuesday during a meeting in Long Beach.
SANTA CLARITA, Calif.—With a depressed economy, a shortage of educational funds, overcrowded classrooms, and overwhelmed teachers, U.S. educational prospects have never looked bleaker. Add to this a large proportion of students already having trouble staying focused and keeping up, along with the many countries increasingly introducing better-educated, more highly trained, and cheaper workers into the job market. The result is a slowly tipping slide towards disaster.
In an economy, where a high school diploma is hardly worth anything, the Antelope Valley Union School District (AVUSD) decided to help out its community and is hosting College Information Night and Harvest Celebration September 28 at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds, 2551 West Avenue H, Lancaster from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.
David Starr Jordan High School sits smack within one of America’s best known ghettos—Watts. In the past, most of its students have consistently performed on par with the ambience of their surroundings.
