State Budget

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Rebenching: If you equalize, UCLA gets less than otherwise

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed today has a long piece on UC’s “rebenching” approach which would change the formula by which UC funding is allocated to the various campuses.  As the article notes, some of the disparate funding that tends to favor older campuses such as UCLA is due to the graduate/undergraduate mix.  But even if you adjust for that effect, the older campuses get more.  That fact means that if you equalize, in the end the older campuses will get less than otherwise.  You can phase it in.  But the logic is unavoidable.  Phasing it in just means that the older…

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California Assembly Speaker John Pérez on the UC Budget, Tuition, Access, and Other Matters

Byuclafaculty

At the January 17, 2013 UC Regents meeting John Pérez spoke about the state budget and other issues. Pérez is an ex officio regent.  A summary follows and there is a link to an audio of his remarks at the bottom of this post: Summary: UC is unrealistic about increased funding from the state, backfilling of past budget cuts, or predictability for the university.  It is not addressing predictability for students.  UC was good at protecting the neediest students but not so good at protecting the middle class.  There are legislative concerns about graduate and professional school students, not just…

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Gov. Jerry Brown on Executive Pay at the University of California & Many Other Topics

Byuclafaculty

At the University of California (UC) Regents meeting of Jan. 17, 2013, Regent Leslie Tang Schilling asked Gov. Brown not to protest about UC executive pay.  The state portion of executive pay can be capped, she seemed to agree, but the Regents should then be free to raise private donations for increments of pay above the state portion.  She argues that UC will need high-quality leadership and must be free to compete for talent.  She expresses skepticism about psychic income. Brown responds at length with a learned discourse ranging from his one-time vow of Jesuit poverty to the history of…

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Demographic Shifts and Lulls

Byuclafaculty

The governor’s budget contains demographic projections for California.  A number of news stories have picked up on the fact that by mid-2013, the Latino and non-Latino-white populations will be equal, according to the projection.  It was pretty obvious from the 2010 Census that this development would occur soon.  However, another aspect of the projections – one more closely related to UC and budget issues – is the chart below: Apart from the fact – well known – that the population is aging, note there is little growth in the college-age population projected for the next few years.  Moreover, the K-12…

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Why the Resignation?

Byuclafaculty

They don’t seem to be looking in the same direction. President Yudof resigned shortly after last week’s Regents meeting.  Undoubtedly, the resignation was planned earlier so nothing that specifically happened at the meeting could have been the triggering event.  The official press release mentioned health, family, etc., obliquely. While the Regents meeting was not the trigger, I would guess that what happened at the meeting was no surprise and could have been anticipated by anyone who heard or attended prior meetings.  The governor wants to take a bigger role than have prior governors.  That’s fine by itself, but the question…

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It’s Your Legacy Choice Governor Brown: Chinese Emperor or Dad?

Byuclafaculty

Kowtowing to the Chinese emperor This past week, Governor Jerry Brown – as he promised – came to yet another Regents meeting with a message of online education and various not-well-defined demands for more efficiency in higher education.  With a few exceptions, what the governor got was kowtowing.  The Regents sung his praise as they did at prior meetings.  Shortly after the meeting, UC President Mark Yudof quit – although he, too, did what is perceived as the requisite degree of kowtowing in announcing he was leaving office. As is well known, Chinese emperors expected those who approached them to…

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Regent Theater

Byuclafaculty

There is the Regent Theater in Westwood and there is theater at the Regents.  Yesterday, Gov. Brown continued his push for more online education from UC.  As far as I can tell from news accounts, the Regents, other than the student regent, are not resisting. We will eventually have the audio of the meeting and post it.  In the meantime, here is a TV news account. UPDATE: The Regents now are providing video and audio live and – perhaps – archived.  Is this the result of our putting the audios online and asking why the Regents don’t do it?  We’ll…

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Cosmetic Adjustments to the State Budget

Byuclafaculty

At the governor’s media conference last Thursday where he presented his budget proposal for 2013-14, some reporters asked about the discrepancy between the proposal – which said that at the end of this year we would have a positive reserve in the general fund – and an earlier estimate by the Legislative Analyst that there would still be a negative reserve.  Basically, the answer – from the budget director (Brown begged off on answering) – was that the governor’s budget involved different assumptions. Actually, the difference between slightly positive ($785 million) and the Leg Analyst’s negative (-$1.9 billion) isn’t all…

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No “mandate” but maybe some arm twisting

Byuclafaculty

We have been posting about Governor Brown’s interest in UC as expressed at Regents meetings lately and in the proposed state budget.  From the Sacramento Bee on what the governor wants from UC: …It is unclear how receptive UC regents will be to Brown’s involvement in their affairs. The university system is administered independently by the regents and subject to only limited legislative oversight. “You can’t, and we wouldn’t want to, impose some sort of mandates on them,” the state Department of Finance’s Nick Schweizer told reporters in a conference call after the budget’s release. “But at the same time…

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Push to Freeze Tuition in Legislature (That Isn’t Likely to be Enacted)

Byuclafaculty

From the Ventura County Star: Republicans in the state Legislature have proposed freezing tuition at California’s public universities and community colleges for the next seven years. The legislation, which was introduced this week before the governor announced his budget, also would increase funding to California State University, the University of California and community colleges so they don’t have to charge more to make ends meet. But it doesn’t give any specifics on how to do that… The bill originally would have penalized the UC system if it raised tuition by decreasing state funding… But (the bill’s author) said he removed…