Higher education advocates are asking for a dedicated funding source for California’s Community Colleges. Busloads of students from around the state marched and rallied in Sacramento Monday and met with state lawmakers.
Santa Monica College student Michael Greenberg says he appreciates Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal to direct a half-billion dollars to community colleges. But, he says something like the oil severance tax bill now in the legislature would guarantee future funding.
“That’s a bill that would really help the community college system and higher education as a whole with secure funding we know will come every year,” says Greenberg. “It’s predictable, it’s calculable it’s statistical, rather than having to be concerned with incoming budget changes.”
The bill would create a $2 billion fund from a 9.5 percent tax on oil extracted in the state. Half of that would go to higher education.
The Brown Administration, for its part, also proposes repaying deferrals from previous budget years.
