Cal State asks for funding increase

California State University trustees Wednesday asked the state to increase funding for enrollment and other needs, despite doubts from Gov. Jerry Brown and the prospect of a tough sell during rough-and-tumble budget negotiations.

Meeting in Long Beach, the Board of Trustees approved a plan that seeks an additional $237.6 million in state funding to hire 500 new full-time faculty members and increase enrollment by 20,000 students for 2014-15.

The panel’s finance committee had approved the plan a day earlier even though Brown, who was at the meeting, warned that it might run into trouble amid demands to address prison overcrowding, firefighting costs and other state obligations. Brown is expected to seek an increase of $142.2 million each for the Cal State and University of California systems in a budget proposal that will go the Legislature in January.

At Wednesday’s meeting, students and faculty vowed to lobby lawmakers for the $237.6-million increase.

“Students are definitely in support of a request that provides the services and courses students need to be successful,” Sarah Couch, president of the California State Student Assn., said after the session.

Spending to increase fulltime faculty, for example, directly affects how quickly students move toward graduation, said Couch, who is studying for a master’s at Cal State Sacramento.

She was unable to enroll in all the courses she wanted this semester because there were not enough full-time, tenure-track professors to teach them, she said.

Tax revenues produced by Proposition 30 have meant more financial stability for Cal State, UC and community colleges. But many campuses still face budget problems.

San Jose State said it may have to cut classes for the spring semester after it was determined that spending on instruction this year would exceed limits by about $3.8 million.

Department heads there learned late last month that they would need to adjust class schedules just as spring registration was about to commence.

The campus was able to eliminate a $32-million deficit over the last two years, but funding has not returned to pre-recession levels, university spokeswoman Pat Lopes Harris said. “Right now, we’re trying to get a handle on things,” Harris said. Administrators are trying to find ways to avoid or minimize class cuts, she said.