A group of community leaders gathered at a conference at the San Diego Memorial Academy Charter School on April 13 to speak against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget cuts to higher education.
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The conference, organized by the San Diego chapter of Supporters of Educational Equality and Diversity, focused on the negative consequences of eliminating academic outreach programs, retention programs and financial aid for low-income, first generation and historically underrepresented students.
“S.E.E.D. … is an organization that is statewide, that is attempting to inform the governor that the decision [the governor] made in January to eliminate programs that benefit services to low-income, underrepresented, educationally disadvantaged students is a mistake, and not good for the state of California,” Gus Chavez, a member of S.E.E.D. and a retired Educational Opportunity Program director at San Diego State University, said.
According to a report from S.E.E.D., the proposed budget cuts would reduce $85 million from financial support for academic outreach programs, including $33.3 million from the University of California. They stated that programs would also be consolidated, which would reduce services for students.
“Probably one of the biggest concerns that we have is that as the demographic shift has occurred in California, where historically underrepresented communities are now becoming the majority in the state … we’re finding [a] proposal to eliminate all early outreach academic preparation programs,” Chavez said.
The report also stated that 20 percent of the state’s high schools supply 55 percent of the seniors admitted to the University of California, highlighting the disparities among educational resources at different high schools. The state’s investment in such programs ranges from $26 to $220 per student per year, a modest investment, according to S.E.E.D.
“I think that the budget cuts are particularly damaging to the young people — the chance for outreach [and] the chance to learn how to become a professional [are] very important,” Douglas Oden, president of the San Diego chapter of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People, said. “If you want to have an opportunity for these young people to become successful citizens, you have to have access to the educational system.”
Financial aid for students will also be reduced by $122.7 million, including $50 million for UC students, according to the report. Forty-five percent of undergraduate students at the University of California and California State University systems have been determined to need financial support.
According to Chavez, the elimination of academic outreach programs and financial aid, along with rising tuition costs, will result in the redirection of over 7,000 students from the UC and CSU systems to community colleges.
Freshman enrollment at UC and CSU campuses will be decreased by 10 percent in the fall.
“One of the most important things right now is that the access is being denied, the affordability is being denied, and the first thing that the governor said he would be is accountable for the education and the children of the state,” Jimma McWilson, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the San Diego Urban League said.
Speakers at the conference emphasized the negative long-term effects of the governor’s proposals.
“It seems to us that what the governor has proposed is being penny-wise, but pound-foolish,” Ray Uzeta, president and chief executive officer of the Chicano Federation, said. “Disenfranchised communities of color … are the future workforce of this state, so in that sense, they are the people … who are going to become the future middle-class and upper-class workers and taxpayers of the state.”
The community leaders attended a major press conference, rally and hearing on April 14 in Sacramento and presented the governor with over 8,000 signatures from students and parents throughout the state protesting the educational budget cuts.
“What we’re saying here is that the investment that we’re making right now to pay for these academic preparation programs [and] academic retention programs in the long run are going to be for the better of the state of California — economically, socially [and] educationally,” Chavez said.
