In a time of tight budgets, UCSD must take a long and hard look at its priorities, including Preuss School.

Unless the Legislature can come through with unexpected funds, the University of California will need to slash more than $17 million next fall, to be split between enrollment reductions and outreach cuts. UC President Robert C. Dynes has previously indicated his intention to use university money to support outreach beyond the meager levels funded by the state.

Unlike traditional charter schools, which the state’s K-12 education budget fund exclusively, UCSD administrators have used more than $500,000 of university outreach money each year to pay for Preuss School.

If the university must choose between continuing to fund this project, among other outreach programs, or increasing student enrollment — a choice the governor’s current budget suggests — administrators bear the burden of proving that the charter school provides actual benefits. Considering last year’s study showing that Preuss students did no better on standardized tests or in college admissions than other students who applied to the charter school, the university has not yet met this burden.

In last year’s budget, the school fared better than some other campus outreach programs, including the Early Academic Outreach Program. Unlike Preuss School, however, EAOP has consistently met or even exceeded its goals and benchmarks.

With so few dollars to go around, the university must show why its charter school deserves special protection or else stop diverting campus funds and rely only on regular state funding, like other comparable schools.