What Kind of California Do You Want?

The current state budget battle drags on with the Senate Republicans proposing major cuts.  So far, the CSU budget is not targeted but that is due to a major lobbying effort by the CSUEU and all the other CSU unions. It is important to look at where the state spends its money.  Look at the relative costs of the spending and think who benefits.  Then ask yourself: Is the CSU and Higher Education is funded appropriately?

The following table shows how the state allocates funds and the impacts:

State Budget 2006-07

 

	Number of Participants (In Thousands)	Average Cost Per Participant
		General Fund	Total Government
Corrections
Adults	174	$36,600	$36,600
Youths	3	140,000	145,000
Education—Studentsa
K-12	5,957	$6,576	$11,264
Community Colleges	1,181	3,473	5,499
CSU	334	8,345	10,610
UCb	182	16,998	20,231
Health and Social Services—Beneficiaries
Medi-Cal	6,665	$1,836	$3,671
SSI/SSP	1,241	2,917	7,210
CalWORKs	1,191	1,582	4,257
Healthy Families	859	429	1,186
In-Home Supportive Services	378	3,522	10,549
Regional centersc	212	9,840	15,259
Foster Care	75	5,677	21,159
Developmental centers	3	136,137	248,487
a  K-12 participants are in average daily attendance and higher education participants are in full-time equivalents.
b  Excludes medical schools.
c  Includes funds for the Habilitation Services Program.