News

  • | | | |

    Video: The Governor’s May Revise News Conference

    Byadmin

    An earlier post on this blog analyzes the May Revise news conference held by Gov. Brown on May 16. There is video of that news conference on the governor’s website but – at least on my computer – it tended to pause and freeze. The version on the calchannel was even worse and caused a total crash at one point. So below is the video transplanted to YouTube by yours truly which works best. It is divided into 4 parts due to YouTube time limits. Part 2, it might be noted, contains a statement by the governor that he would…

  • |

    BID FOR WESTWOOD?

    Byadmin

    No, not that kind of bid. BID stands for Business Improvement District. Essentially, through a process permitted under state law, local businesses form a BID which provides services (such as street cleaning and security) above and beyond what the city provides. In effect, the businesses tax themselves to pay for the added services. There are several BIDs in downtown LA, for example. Westwood went into decline after a shooting in the late 1980s seemed to scare away tourism and shoppers. The action went to Century City and Santa Monica. A BID was formed at one point but someone ran off…

  • |

    The May Revise

    Byadmin

    Here is a preliminary look at Governor Brown’s May revise budget based in part on yours truly watching the media conference at which the May revise was presented and a look at the accompanying documents. For those concerned about UC in particular, there appears to be no change in the net $500 billion reduction previously announced. That reduction consists of a drop in the general fund contribution to UC plus the ending of federal stimulus funds. You can find this information at http://www.dof.ca.gov/budget/historical/2011-12/governors/summary/documents/BS_HED.pdf and http://www.dof.ca.gov/budget/historical/2011-12/governors/documents/May_Revision_2011-12_Summary.pdf At the more general level, let’s start with the observation that budget terminology in the…

  • A View from the Pew

    Byadmin

    Inside Higher Ed today pointed me to a Pew survey of the general public and of college presidents concerning higher ed. Below is a summary. A link to the full report is at the bottom. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report is based on findings from a pair of Pew Research Center surveys conducted this spring. One is a telephone survey taken among a nationally representative sample of 2,142 adults ages 18 and older. The other is an online survey, done in association with the Chronicle of Higher Education, among the presidents of 1,055 two-year and four-year private, public, and for-profit colleges…

  • | |

    State Spending Cap Could End Up on Ballot: Background

    Byadmin

    Tomorrow is the day Governor Brown is supposed to unveil his May-revise budget. Various elements have been leaking out to the news media. There was also an announcement concerning closing selected state parks which reflects an element of political theater as well as the reality of the continuing budget crisis. Earlier posts have noted that Republicans have indicated that they might accept a deal that would include putting on the ballot a state spending cap. By way of background, California has a state spending cap – the Gann Limit – passed by voters in 1979 in the wake of Prop…

  • | | |

    Will Crane Fly?

    Byadmin

    Earlier blog posts have noted the appointment in late December of David Crane to the UC Regents by outgoing Governor Schwarzenegger. Crane is noted for his advocacy of putting public pension changes on the ballot, e.g., http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/04/EDU01HHUPL.DTL As the article below notes, Crane has yet to be confirmed by the California Senate and is facing considerable opposition. It is possible, however, that as part of some larger deal on the budget – which could itself involve pensions, Crane would be confirmed. If that happens, there would be a voice on the Regents that might be advocating some future ballot proposition…

  • | | | | |

    The Regents Are Coming; The Regents Are Coming

    Byadmin

    The Regents will be meeting next week, May 17-18. By way of a preview, here are some excerpts from background documents for the Regents Committee on Finance, slated for May 18. Excerpt 1: Full document at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/may11/f6.pdf Compensation. The baseline model assumes annual compensation cost increases of three percent for both represented and non-represented staff and faculty, in addition to the regular academic merit salary increase program, totaling $533 million by 2015-16. While compensation likely will continue to lag substantially behind the market, three percent increases are critical to retain and recruit the faculty and staff needed to maintain UC’s…

  • | |

    Differential Tuition Pricing at UC: The Sky Would Fall Says the Contra Costa Times. But Would It?

    Byadmin

    The Contra Costa Times on 5/12/11 had an editorial indicating that differential tuition among the UC campuses would be a bad idea. Below is an excerpt: FINANCIAL ADVERSITY can spawn positive innovation; it also can lead to huge mistakes. Establishing variable tuition at the University of California campuses would be the latter. Advocates of different tuition rates for each campus argue that it would allow individual campuses to raise more revenue during a time of tight state budgets and that consumer demand should play a bigger role in the cost of education. However, the likely result of variable tuition is…

  • | | |

    Bemoaning the CAP

    Byadmin

    Below is an excerpt from the New York Times Bay Area online edition. It points to the various times when the UC pension was overfunded but pay was frozen (or cut), the Regents diverted some pension funds to the CAP programs in lieu of cash. The CAP programs were basically like mini cash balance plans, i.e., tax deferred savings accounts with a fixed interest rate on the balance. A little-noticed cash benefit for some University of California employees is adding strain to the system’s battered pension plan just as the university prepares for a $500 million reduction in state aid,…