State cuts will affect UC funding

By Sara Chon
Daily Bruin Contributor

The $2.48 billion mid-year budget cut proposal made by Gov. Gray
Davis last week should pass through the legislature with bipartisan
support, according to numerous state officials.

“Majority of the members in both houses will probably
support the budget cuts,” said Sen. Dick Ackerson, R-Tustin,
vice chair of the Senate Budget Committee. “The governor has
made legitimate calls for cuts.”

The governor requested cuts in various state-funded entities,
including the University of California, to deal with the rapidly
worsening state economy, which Davis said has been seriously
affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Davis also recently ordered a state-wide hiring freeze and asked
all state-funded groups to prepare to reduce their budgets by 15
percent.

The UC will likely be faced with an $86 million reduction. The
proposed budget cuts in UC funds include:

“¢bull; A $5 million reduction from state funds for
assistance in clinical teaching at the university’s medical
center.

“¢bull; A $25 million cut from the $75.6 million given to the
university for a possible increase in natural gas costs.

“¢bull; A $6 million cut from the $56.9 million fund for
training teachers to meet the anticipated demand of K-12 school
districts.

“¢bull; A shift of at least $50 million of the $95 million from
the General Fund for the UC Institutes of Science and Innovation to
state lease revenue bonds, a method the state uses to fund
facilities over a period of time.

Steve Mavgiglio, press secretary for Davis, said proposal for
the shift of funds for the science institutes, which have long been
a high priority for top UC officials, is only a fund shift and not
a cut.

“The governor is responsible for starting (science
institutes), and it is one of the governor’s hallmark
programs,” Mavgiglio said.

Both UC spokesman Brad Hayward and a spokesperson from the UCLA
NanoSystems Institute said they were not worried about the fund
shift.

Addressing the cuts, Hayward said the UC has to do its part to
help the state face a darkening economic outlook.

“The state has many fiscal problems. We have to play a
role in addressing the problem while preserving quality programs in
our institutions,” Hayward said.

The governor’s mid-year cut proposal will be formally
presented to the state legislature in January for an approval. The
legislature will have to decide where further cuts will be
made.

“All the programs are significant and important. But we
can’t just go blindly without making cuts,” said George
Runner, R-Lancaster, vice chair of the Budget Committee of the
State Assembly.

The more than $12 billion deficit will make it inevitable for
any state-funded program to go unaffected by the budget cuts, state
officials said.

“The legislature has to make some tough choices,”
said Carol Wallisch, chief of staff for Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa
Monica.

No single agency will go untouched, Wallisch said.

The assembly will review alternatives to budget cuts before
making any final decision on the reductions, Wallisch said.

Despite budget cuts affecting the UC, Scott Svonkin, the chief
of staff for Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, remains
optimistic about continued funding for the UC.

“UCLA is an important employer of Los Angeles. With all
the hospitals and facilities, the university is a critical resource
to the greater L.A. community,” Svonkin said.