Compact with governor sets future funding
BY CYNTHIA LEE
UCLA Today Staff
Ever the teacher, UC President Robert C. Dynes took the opportunity
of his meeting in January with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to instruct
the new chief executive about the University of California’s
critical value to the state.
“I felt like I was talking to someone who was very much
interested in listening, but who hadn’t really understood
things yet,” Dynes recalled on May 12 while talking to the
Assembly of the Academic Senate meeting at Covell Commons. The day
before, Dynes, CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed and Schwarzenegger
had stood together to announce a new compact between the state university
systems and the governor.
“It was clear that [Gov. Schwarzenegger] was learning rapidly,”
Dynes said.
Dynes’ January meeting with Schwarzenegger came after months
spent reviewing budget numbers and huddling with administrators
and campus representatives. They debated whether UC should forge
an agreement with the governor and, if so, what should be on the
table to stop the hemorrhaging of dollars that has occurred over
the past three years.
The agreement that was announced on May 11 sets a stable “floor,”
the minimum funding UC can expect in 2005-06 to 2010-11 to cover
such costs as faculty and staff raises. Money for student enrollment
increases, financial aid, core needs and capital outlay also is
in the compact. It would allow student fee increases to rise in
a predictable way and commit state support for K-12 academic preparation
(outreach) programs, with UC contributing $12 million. It would
also funnel any future fee increases to UC instead of to state coffers,
where they have been going.
“How do we know we can trust this? We don’t,”
Dynes said, noting that the compact is a handshake agreement. “We
still have to go through the budget process. But it’s clear
in my mind, having looked into his eyes and having spoken to him
... that over the past several months, there has been a mind shift
— from ‘UC has cost the state a lot of money’
to ‘We can’t afford not to invest in UC because it’s
the best thing we’ve got going for us.’ ”
The agreement between the higher education chiefs and Schwarzenegger
has angered some Democratic lawmakers, Dynes acknowledged. But the
urgency for UC to reach an agreement mounted as the governor hammered
out other deals with K-12 schools, community colleges and municipalities.
Under the agreement, UC will not have to bear the expected 3%
cut state agencies were warned to plan for this year, Dynes said.
But UC will still have to endure the considerable pain of the 2004-05
budget. Then beginning in 2005-06, state funding would increase
systematically, starting at 3% annually, growing to 4% in 2007-08
and increasing to 5%.
In exchange, UC has agreed to be held accountable on five points,
including boosting the supply and quality of math/science teachers
in public schools. Except for that point, Dynes assured the faculty,
“they’re all things we’re doing now.” While
UC only prepares 5% of K-12 teachers in the state, it educates about
25% of math/science teachers.
The compact is “about as good as we can possibly get at
this time,” said UCLA Academic Senate Chair Clifford Brunk.
“There’s no question the devil is in the details. It
all depends on our partner being able to provide the resources.”
Dynes said the best case for the compact was made in a letter
he received last January from 30 chairs of the UCLA College. Author
of the letter Glen MacDonald, geography chair, said the compact
is a step in the right direction, but he also recalled that the
former compact was repeatedly breached under Gov. Gray Davis when
the state fell into a deep funding hole.
“But I’m a realistic person. There is a lot in the
document that echoes the concerns and the suggested remedies in
our letter,” he said.
To find out more details about the compact, go to: www.ucla.edu/budget/pressrel_may04.html.
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