If Gov. Jerry Brown thought he could easily save a few hundred million dollars by withholding Cal Grants from 72,000 low-income, mainly black and brown students – and that lawmakers would bob their heads OK – he learned otherwise Wednesday. Sending a signal that Brown needs to find a way to save $302 million besides barring poor kids from college, three Democrats and one Republican on the Assembly’s subcommittee on education finance rejected a range of Cal Grant proposals from the governor. The cuts are part of Brown’s proposal to lawmakers, who must reduce the state’s 2012-13 budget by $9.2 billion.
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by Nanette Asimov, The San Francisco Chronicle.
Posted: March 9th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Students at Sonoma State are sending a message to the governor that California State University students will no longer stand for the budget cuts resulting in fewer classes and higher tuition — creating financial hardships and often longer graduation times. Last month, students across California wrote their personal messages and stories on mock $750 million bills, representing both the financial and community crisis at hand. The bills, held in a clear box, made its way through the 23 CSU campuses and are expected to arrive on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk in April.
Posted: March 9th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
The Reynoso report was to be released Tuesday. But the police union filed a last-minute objection in court, citing a state law that protects the confidentiality of peace officers’ personnel records, including “complaints or investigations of complaints” about events while they are on duty. The report violates the law by naming officers and including “negative comments” about them, said John Bakhit, an attorney for the labor union of about 250 University of California police officers, including the 40 or so assigned to the Davis protest. The law doesn’t say officers can’t be named, but it bars disclosure of any information considered “an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
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by Nanette Asimov, The San Francisco Chronicle.
Posted: March 7th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
UC Berkeley’s Police Review Board saw a series of videos Monday night – some from police cameras, others from YouTube – showing officers using batons to prod, push, jab and strike protesters who put up seven tents on campus last fall and then linked arms in a bid to protect those tents… In all, 39 people were arrested on Nov. 9, including 22 UC Berkeley students and a professor. The university also faces a federal civil rights lawsuit stemming from the confrontation. Ronald Cruz, an attorney representing 24 protesters, said Monday that the legal battle was over “the ability of students and the community to defend public education.” Cruz said he had “no faith in the review board – that their actions will lead to any consequences to the administrators and police officers involved.”
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by Demian Bulwa, The San Francisco Chronicle.
Posted: March 6th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
The thousands of college students who marched on the Capitol on Monday to protest rising fees and decreasing state support had a point: Higher education has taken a disproportionately heavy drubbing in recent years… The state’s general fund is overwhelmingly devoted to four major categories: K-12 education, health and welfare services, prisons and higher education… which lacks the legal protections and the political clout of the other three.
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by Dan Walters, The Sacramento Bee.
Posted: March 6th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
The protest capped a massive education rally and march at the Capitol that drew protesters from around the state… But unlike the basic “no cuts” message brought to the Capitol every March, education’s 99 percent have a specific agenda this year. They want two measures to qualify for the statewide ballot in November: the so-called millionaires tax, an income tax hike on the state’s highest earners; and Proposition 1522, an oil-extraction tax, both of which supporters say would raise billions of dollars for public education. They oppose a plan by Gov. Jerry Brown to make it harder for low-income students to quality for financial aid under the Cal Grant program… “The students today are reflecting the frustrations of millions of Californians who have seen their public schools and universities eroded year after year,” the governor said in a statement. “That’s why it’s imperative that we get more tax revenue this November.”
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by Nanette Asimov, The San Francisco Chronicle.
Posted: March 5th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
“They say cut back, we say fight back!” the students chanted while waving signs saying “fund education, not war” and “cuts in education never heal.” The plaza on the west side of the Capitol was teeming with protesters during the rally, which was billed as a chance to “occupy the Capitol.” Outside the building, student leaders and top Democrats who voted to slash higher education budgets last year addressed the crowd. “We’ve cut billions of dollars and I’ve hated every minute of it,” said Senate President Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).
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by Chris Megerian, The Los Angeles Times.
Posted: March 5th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Thousands of students and activists marched on the state Capitol on Monday to protest cuts in higher education, and authorities arrested several dozen who refused to leave the building after it closed in the evening. The demonstration, billed by some as an “occupy the Capitol” act and supported by a freewheeling coalition of student groups and labor unions, was the latest sign of simmering discontent over steady hikes in the cost of state universities and community colleges… Democratic political leaders largely embraced the demonstrators, most of whom stayed outside. Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles), Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom addressed the rally on the west steps. “We’ve cut billions of dollars, and I’ve hated every minute of it,” Steinberg said.
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by Chris Megerian, The Los Angeles Times.
Posted: March 5th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Last week the US House of Representatives, with bipartisan support, passed a bill, H.R. 2117, with the misleading title of The Protecting Academic Freedom in Higher Education Act. The title is misleading because the bill has absolutely nothing to do with “protecting academic freedom” and everything to do with making our country more vulnerable to a rapacious campaign to turn America’s entire system of education into an enterprise that can be exploited by corporate rentiers… This bill isn’t about affordability as much as it is about opening the gates to more for-profit higher education providers to have easier entry into the market and more flexibility to offer low-quality degrees and certificates.
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by Jeff Bryant, California Progress Report.
Posted: March 5th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
College students and activists are rallying today in Sacramento to protest state budget cuts in higher education. They will be joined at one Capitol rally by Democratic legislative leaders who negotiated budgets that included those cuts in recent years. It’s one example of the murky budget politics surrounding higher education. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez say they would have preferred not to have cut higher education. But as state tax revenues dropped and Republicans rejected tax hikes, they looked for anything and everything to slash. University funding is an easy target because it lacks the constitutional, federal and court protections that other areas have, while they have a revenue stream in the form of tuition.
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by Kevin Yamamura, The Sacramento Bee.
Posted: March 5th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
