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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Just Asking: Where Is the Proposition on Higher Ed vs. Prisons?


Yesterday I posted the LAO’s guide to various November ballot propositions. Perhaps it might be of interest to ask about a proposition that is not on the ballot in November – and which was not on the ballot last June, either. Remember the governor’s State of the State speech in early January? If not, you can read it at: http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/speech/14118/

You might recall that the governor proposed a constitutional amendment that was supposed to guarantee that spending on higher ed would exceed spending on prisons. His accompanying press release http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/press-release/14124/ summarized the plan as follows:

Constitutional Amendment to Increase Higher Education Funding
While this budget year will pose many challenges, the Governor drew the line at education and called for a historic realignment of California’s priorities. He announced that he would work to protect California’s schools and to shield higher education from further cuts. The Governor called on the legislature to help him make California’s education system a higher priority than prisons. Specifically, he proposed:
A constitutional amendment to ensure California cannot spend a greater percentage of General Fund (GF) dollars on its prisons than on higher education.


Still more details on the amendment were provided by the governor at:
http://images.emaildirect.com/clients/govpressoffice847/SOTSReshapingPrioritiesforHigherEducation.pdf

The proposal was praised by UC leaders at the time. Whatever happened to it? Just asking.

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