Editorial: Be wary of fickle fiscal policy, California

Gov. Schwarzenegger’s declaration earlier this week that
the state should keep the price of higher education independent of
the booms and busts of California’s wild economy does not
square with a newspaper report that the governor wants to raise
fees by thousands of dollars for some university students.

Tuesday, with the videotape rolling and the flashbulbs popping,
Schwarzenegger said in his State of the State address that student
fees should be raised by no more than 10 percent per year. But the
Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that Schwarzenegger’s
budget draft ““ to be released today ““ calls
for the fees of some graduate students to be raised by more than 40
percent. Additionally, community college fees would go up by 44
percent, as the state looks to get out of this year’s fiscal
crisis. This news comes when University of California fees already
have been raised 40 percent and community college fees more than 60
percent since December 2002.

It’s too bad the governor isn’t being more
consistent because the student fee issue is out of control in
California. Fees level off, even drop, when tax revenue is high.
They often rise by hundreds of dollars when the economy, and thus
tax revenue, dips ““ when California families already are
struggling.

UC Regent Ward Connerly, never afraid to mix it up, was right
when he said at a board meeting, “We have the most incoherent
fee policy on the planet. It makes no sense.” Schwarzenegger
himself seemed to understand the problem Tuesday night, saying
“We must end this boom-and-bust cycle of widely fluctuating
fees with a predictable, capped fee policy for college students and
their parents.”

Those who have opposed fee increases said Schwarzenegger’s
pledge Tuesday presented a good starting point for debate on fee
policy at the UC. But sadly, as Schwarzenegger said one thing but
seems to be doing something else.

The Times cited sources familiar with the governor’s
budget who said it called for increases for certain students of
much more than 10 percent. A spokesman for the department of
finance explained lamely that Schwarzenegger’s call for a cap
on fee increases applied only to undergraduates. Unless The
Times’ reporting is inaccurate, Schwarzenegger was quite
misleading when giving what was by far the most widely followed
State of the State address in state history.

Voters should be wary of Schwarzenegger, the self-styled
“people’s governor,” who supposedly was put in
office to bring a bit of integrity and forthrightness to
Sacramento.

Even if his motives are honest, his messages are muddled.

He says he won’t raise taxes ““ but he doesn’t
say his plan to save California’s finances involves burdening
the state with billions of dollars in interest payments for years
to come.

He says tax increases on the wealthy would hurt business and
stall job creation ““ but he doesn’t say that cutting
billions in state spending would cause layoffs.

He says student fees should not be raised by more than 10
percent a year ““ but he reportedly drafts plans to boost fees
by far more than that amount.

Like the undercover police officer who posed as a school teacher
in “Kindergarten Cop,” Schwarzenegger is not always who
he seems.