Capitol Alert

The leaders of the University of California, California State University and the California Community Colleges said in a press conference this afternoon that they are preparing to make $1.4 billion in budget cuts proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown but said fewer degree programs and enrollment slots as well as reduced student services would likely be the result.

UC President Mark Yudof and CSU Chancellor Charles Reed said they would try to avoid raising tuition to generate revenue, while Yudof and community colleges Chancellor Jack Scott said the cuts would likely mean keeping out qualified students. The state's Master Plan for Higher Education, put in place in 1960, guarantees a higher education slot for every qualified student.

All three men were set to testify before the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education this afternoon. The proposed budget cuts $500 million from the University of California, $500 million from the California State University and $400 million from the community colleges.

"We're saying, 'I don't like it. I don't want to do it, but I'm willing to do it for the CSU if there is a future to reinvest in California and have a conversation about what kind of California do we want for our kids, what kind of economy do we want, what kind of people do we want in the work force," Reed said. "So this one time, sure. I'm willing to sacrifice because every public agency is going to have to sacrifice something."

The UC cuts, Yudof said, would probably mean "fewer students. It means a smaller faculty because, remember, a lot of our costs are labor costs, the instructional costs are high, I think you don't have as much to offer in student services. You might have to trim the programs."

"I hate it," Yudof added. "You know, our campuses are prepared to take another 30,000 to 40,000 students. They feel they have the room for them if we had adequate finances to do it."

Reed said about the CSU cuts, "We're not going to be able to afford all the degree programs in all the CSU campuses" and said some programs would have to be organized on a regional level.

Scott said about the community colleges, "Last year alone, we turned away 140,000 students, and if the budget holds this year, for the next year, we think we'll have to turn away 350,000 students. " He said many of those students couldn't find class slots or ended up on waiting lists.

Only Scott would endorse extending temporary taxes, as Brown is proposing to ask voters to do. Yudof said he wanted to see the specific language of the measure, while Reed said adding revenue could prevent even more cuts.

"For that to be turned down or not even to get on the ballot would be tragic," Scott said.

Despite the budget crunch, Yudof said raising tuition would be "unpalatable," a message repeated by Reed. The proposed budget raises community college fees by $10 a unit. Yudof also said he wouldn't institute furloughs to save money.

"We raised tuition 10 percent in November," Reed said, "and I don't plan on doing it again except if in June the revenue enhancements that the governor is proposing fail and the whole bottom falls out of everything, we'll have to come back and revisit that."

Asked if Brown had pledged in private conservations to limit the cuts to the current proposals, Reed answered, "He hasn't promised anything other than that if these taxes don't pass, we're going to cut even more."

Photo: California State University Chancellor Charles Reed, University of California President Mark Yudof and California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott speak Feb. 7, 2011, at the state Capitol. (Jack Chang/Sacramento Bee)