Drip Drop: More Leaks on State Budget Indicate UC is Targeted

As noted in prior posts, governors typically leak out the outlines of their budget strategies in advance of the official unveiling. The official unveiling – by constitutional mandate – is Monday, Jan. 10. The leaked item below from the Sacramento Bee today indicates explicitly that UC will not be spared:

Anatomy of Brown’s budget plan (excerpt)

Jan. 09, 2011

The budget Jerry Brown will propose Monday includes deep program cuts, a June election to extend tax increases and a broad reordering of state and local government to close a deficit estimated at $25 billion to $28 billion, according to sources familiar with the plan. Here are some of the elements:

… Higher education: Make deep cuts to both UC and CSU systems, in ways targeted to minimize fee hikes and enrollment reductions.

Particularly of interest is the phrase “in ways targeted to minimize fee hikes and enrollment cuts.” The Regents in principle are free to do what they like with regard to tuition (and enrollment). But the budget could be phrased to say something like “for every dollar of tuition hike, the state budget for the university will be reduced by one dollar.”