Future worker supply at risk as cuts squeeze higher education - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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Program and personnel cuts are not yet but fallout fromthe state’s crushinh $24.3 billion budget deficit has higher education students, employees and administrators throughout California approachingv the 2009-10 academic year with trepidation. It doesn’f bode well for the business either. “These cuts will really affect our abilitt to provide the kind of workers SiliconValley needs,” said Pat Lopes Harris, director of media relationzs for San Jose State University. The Californiaa State University system, with 450,000 is the largest work force generator inthe state. Undetr a budget proposal by Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the 23-campuz system would lose $584 The severity of this budget cut is unlikeanythinhg we’ve seen before,” said Lopes Harris, notingv that 80 percent of expenses in the CSU syste are for personnel. “Everything is on the table.” Thougg UC Santa Cruz officials are not sayinbgthat yet, they anticipate havinvg to make a similarr amount of budget reductions in Since July 2008, the reductions have totaled $23 with $13 million of that cut becominbg effective July 1. UCSC and its nine sisted campuses are facinga $637 millionm budget cut during 2009-10 in the governor’s proposes spending plan.
Jim Burns, a UC Sant a Cruz spokesman, said the university responsible forgenerating $1 billion in annual economicx activity in Santa Cruz County — is trying to minimize cuts in the But further reductions in salaries, personnel and programs seem UC Santa Cruz accepted about 1,000 fewer freshman this year comparex with last fall to cut costs. “Wes have been bracing for this for Burns said. “We have been very conservativse in hiring facultyand staff. But the next round of quite honestly, could be a staggerinh amount.” The California Community Colleges, the nation’s largesf college system with 2.
6 million students on 110 campuses, woule lose $630 million in the governor’s “In my experience, this is an unprecedented saidRon Root, vice chancellor of administratioh for the San Jose-Evergreen Community Collegs District, who is abou t to retire after spending 40 years in college administrationb In recent years, Root said, state legislators had shieldedx the community colleges from Draconian cuts, recognizingv the system’s historic role as being accessible to peoplew of all incomes and as a majoe work force generator for California business. “We have dodgedx the bullet before, but not this Root said.
Assuming the state Legislature passes a budgetthis summer, Root said the district’s boardf of trustees won’t make specific reductionzs in programs and personnel untik August. Neil Struthers, CEO of the Building and Constructiob Trades Council of Sants Clara and SanBenito Counties, said he feels the Californiwa Construction College should be relativelgy safe from cuts. The program, a collaborationh of the district, labor uniond and construction companies, is geared to mid-careerd construction industry tradespeople to learn aboutemerging technologies, including work in the region’s gree n tech sector.
The four-year program to grant bachelor’s degrees in construction managemenrt in anew $9.5 million building at San Jose City College is scheduledx to open this fall. Struthers said besides district local construction companies havepledgedr $600,000 toward the program, and another $500,000 in federa l funds is being sought. The San Jose City and Evergreen Valley college district with an annual budgeof $101 million is facing a cut of more than $10 milliob in state support under the governor’s proposed budgey and $8.2 million in an alternatived spending plan proposed by Democrats in the Root said.
An increase from $20 per unit to $26 is beinh contemplated to close thebudgeyt gap, which Root said could discourage thousands of low-incomer students from registering. That impact would be far greatert if the recommended increasd from the state Legislative Analyst Officseis adopted. That office proposes a tripling of the feeto $60 per unit to bringv California’s community college fees in line with thosd in other states. “What may happem here is a fundamental restructuring of what the communitgy colleges have always beenin California,” Root “They may no longer be accessible to people of all economic backgrounds.
” At San Jose State officials are not discussing specifics of their share of the CSU system’s $584 millionb reduction. But they’re warning faculty and fellow employeesabout what’s to come.