California Budget Crisis and the Cal State System

Story here; additional comments from those knowledgeable about the specific issues facing philosophy departments in the Cal State system welcome.

Comments

[CSU Part Timer]

I'm a part time lecturer at a CSU school. My guess is the furlough won't save more than a few jobs, since the administration is going to cut as many classes as they can one way or another.

Apparently California is so poor it can't afford to operate a decent community college system. This makes the existence of so many rich people hard to explain.

[CSU full-timer]

"CSU Part Timer" is right, I think; I don't think this furlough (pay cut) will save jobs; the budget deficit is so huge as to require cutting as many faculty as one can (to the point one starts losing money because of lost FTES) even with a furlough (really, it's a pay cut). Faculty have given up 25% of income (furlough plus two years of raises that would have put us close to those at equivalent schools in the Midwest). We voted on these furloughs with very little information about things that would/could be done to close the budget deficit; the rush was a "Shock-Doctrine" sort of measure. I expect it will work. I expect our (quite evil) chancellor will be back next year for more money from us. I expect will give it to him again, then.

The state is in such dire straits in a large part because of Prop 13, which mandates a 2/3 majority to pass a budget or raise taxes. It also has sucked property tax revenue from the state.

It's clear to me that those ruling California intend to make it as feudal a society as they can, and they're doing a pretty good job.

[CSU assistant professor]

Both of the above two comments are correct. The problem stems from Prop 13, the incompetence of the California legislature, and gross mismanagement by the CSU Chancellor and other administrators. There will probably be furloughs, there will certainly be layoffs, and the students will get a worse education in the end. Specialized courses are being canceled, and faculty are bitter about getting a pay cut with no cut in retention and tenure expectations and no reduction in teaching workload. Many faculty will respond by lowering our workloads in the classroom on our own and the educations of the students will suffer.

I have to mention that the California Faculty Association, although basically powerless at this time, has not helped matters by running an incompetent vote on whether to approve furloughs.

Since the CSU has frozen hiring, and since we rely so heavily on lecturers for instruction, and since every tenure-track professor who can take a job elsewhere will, the long-term tenure-density of departments in the CSU will be lowered and probably won't recover for some time. This is going to be bad for the faculty who remain and bad for the students attending one of these campuses.

[CSU assistant professor #2]

Proposition 13 and the ballot measures related to it (which require a 2/3 vote for tax increases and a 2/3 vote to pass a budget) have been absolutely disastrous for California.

Proposition 13 capped real estate taxes at 1% of a home's purchase price plus modest periodic adjustments (and I mean modest: they don't even keep pace with inflation). What many people do not understand is that the total cost of home ownership (mortgage + taxes + insurance) here is comparable to what people pay in other parts of the U.S. Our mortgages are much higher, but our real estate taxes are lower. There are two main socio-economic results: First, the money that would in other regions go to the state (in the form of property taxes) goes to banks, real estate agents, and their cronies. This leaves the most vital state programs chronically underfunded. Second, people who bought houses a long time ago (when houses were much, much cheaper) are paying way less than their fair share in taxes. The solution is to phase out Proposition 13, but that is not politically possible ... at least not yet. Lower-middle class citizens believe that their property taxes (on their $450,000 homes - no joke) would wreck them if it were repealed. The truth is that over time, real estate prices would adjust to what people can afford.

What may happen instead: they abolish the Community College system, while both the CSU and the UC systems are gutted and left for dead. Simultaneously - and much more seriously - the most vulnerable members of society are left to their own devices, with the social safety-net cut up and discarded. The political demographics of the state are such that this could all happen, and few people whose voices count would really protest or even care. Outside of a few progressive enclaves, is an ugly society.

[CSU full-timer]

For those who are interested, either furloughs were adopted, or the union (CFA) is authorized to negotiate furloughs. It's not clear to many of us what we voted for (I thought it was the latter, but it seems as though it might be the former). The chancellor of the university received a 79% no-confidence vote.

Here's an article on it: http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_12907832

I agree with the above colleague; this is an ugly, ugly place outside of a few well-known areas. The analysis of Prop 13 above is right-on.

[Ellis Goldberg]

HELP US RAISE $35,000 TO GET AUTHOR AND PROFESSOR GEORGE LAKOFF'S MESSAGE OUT!

We have an opportunity to pass a proposition in November 2010 to overturn the 2/3 requirement to pass the California budget and raise revenue. Right now (1/3 plus 1) of either the assembly or senate can block the will of the majority. Our proposition is simple - one sentence, 14 words:

All legislative actions on revenue and budget must be determined by a majority vote.

The CA Majority Rule campaign is dedicated to making this happen. This is your chance to change California history with one simple sentence.

In order to run an effective campaign, we first need to conduct a public opinion poll to aid in our message strategy. George Lakoff has drafted questions and we are in the process of hiring a reputable polling company. We need to raise money to conduct this unique poll.

http://www.actblue.com/page/georgelakoffmajorityrulepoll
Publish & pass to all your lists please.
More info at http://www.trivalleydems.com/DemocracyInCalifornia.htm