CSUN University News Clippings

Opinion: Michael Ortiz: Power to maintain educational excellence belongs to voters

(November 4, 2009)

By Michael Ortiz
Publsihed: 11/03/2009

For decades, California has been on the cutting edge of America’s social and economic evolution. We are the state that has launched new technologies, a green business climate, personal fitness and entertainment. Californians led the nation in breaking down outdated social mores and advancing equity and social responsibility.

This success story is rooted in education. We built the world’s premier multi-tiered public education system, designed to create affordable opportunities for everyone to advance themselves and their families.

The system works when it is a universal priority. An educated workforce gives back by creating jobs that support public funding. But we are now facing a cataclysmic change in priorities, putting California’s future at risk.

The facts are these: Cal Poly Pomona (and the entire California State University system) was hit with the greatest single operational budget cut in university history. With one stroke of the pen this past summer, our 2009-10 state general fund budget was cut by more than 20 percent.

It was a $30 million tsunami and everyone began to sprint for higher ground. The CSU leadership immediately began negotiations with the collective bargaining units on ways we could mitigate the cuts over this fiscal year and avoid mass layoffs. The outcome was a furlough schedule that closes our administrative offices for two days a month and cuts nearly everyone’s salary, including faculty, by about 10 percent.

The loss in faculty and staff compensation is coupled with a $1,000 annual increase in student fees and a draconian cut to operational budgets. Everyone is feeling pain, but it is not widely understood why.

In my ongoing conversations with students and parents, there remains a serious misunderstanding about why we have less and what happened to all that money.

Many incorrectly believe that higher education and other public agencies are just spending the money differently, redirecting it to new priorities. But the bottom line is that we received 20 percent less from Sacramento to offer the same level of quality education and support.

Ultimately, that is impossible. In early June, I decided to cancel the state-funded summer session, knowing that it would help with course offerings in the fall, winter and spring quarters. One angry student wanted to know what happened to the money. I asked whether he voted on Gov. Schwarzenegger’s propositions in May, designed to help offset the budget crisis. He said he voted no because he did not want his taxes raised. Clearly, there is a disconnect.

The closure days are difficult for everyone who has come to expect that Cal Poly Pomona and other CSU campuses will always be available. Our faculty are among the most directly impacted, and many of them continue to teach courses on those closure days. Many others have stepped up and increased their class sizes to help students stay on course to graduate.

But we can only do so much.

Cal Poly Pomona and other state universities are charged with educating the California workforce. The engineers, teachers, nurses, architects and scientists who have historically elevated our industries will not be as readily available. Fewer skilled graduates mean fewer quality job opportunities. Businesses will leave the state, K-12 classes will be larger, health care professionals will be in short supply, and property values will continue to drop. These are real outcomes of the path that has been laid out for us.

As parents, we teach our children that decisions have consequences. If we continually choose to elect officials who have different priorities or cannot collaboratively address the real issues that impact our state, we can’t blame anyone but ourselves.

The Cal Poly Pomona community remains committed to continuing a legacy of excellence. But the real power is yours.

Michael Ortiz is the president of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Publication: Daily Bulletin