The California State University Board of Trustees recently adopted its 2010-11 budget proposal, which asks the state to increase funding for the CSU system by $884 million.

The budget proposal, which the Board of Trustees calls a “recover and reinvest” budget, would increase state funding from $2.3 billion to $3.2 billion. It aims to recover the cuts imposed in the last two years and to reinvest for long-term needs, according to a CSU press release.

“The recommendation is to increase funding for the CSU,” said Erik Fallis, spokesman for the CSU Chancellor’s Office. “The state budget process in the last two years resulted in some very drastic cuts to the CSU and a great deal of those cuts are one-time cuts.”

Over the last two years, state funding for the CSU system has been cut by $625 million.

The budget proposal seeks to restore $305 million in one-time cuts, which were imposed this year by the governor and the Legislature.

“The budget also asks to get funding to reinvest and rebuild in educating future workforce,” Fallis said.

The proposal asks the state to provide $22 million for mandatory costs, which include health benefits, new space and energy. It also asks for nearly $76 million to increase salaries and $47 million to invest in technology, libraries and facility maintenance.

The budget proposal has been submitted to the state Department of Finance. The CSU expects the governor to submit his budget plan to the Legislature in January and to have a revised budget in May, Fallis said.

“Hopefully we have a budget in June,” Fallis said. “That doesn’t happen every year, but we need to have a budget by June because the next fiscal year starts in July.”

Kimberly Nava, interim director of news services at Sacramento State, said it is not yet known how much of the budget proposal is intended for Sac State.

In a CSU press release, Chancellor Charles B. Reed described the proposal as a “very ambitious budget.”

“This budget reflects the true fiscal needs of the CSU,” Reed said.

Kevin Wehr, president of the Sac State chapter of the California Faculty Association, said the $884 million increase in state support is “not enough money” to recover from the cuts and losses to Sac State.

“It just brings us to where we were in 2006, and we need to be thinking about 2010-11,” Wehr said. “We can’t be looking backward.”

Wehr said the CSU budget proposal should also address student retention rates and graduation rates.

Whether the state will be able to provide the requested funding is still uncertain. The Legislative Analyst’s Office projected that California will face a nearly $21 billion budget deficit in fiscal year 2010-11.

Wehr said the problem is that the state simply does not have money to provide the funds requested by the CSU system.

“I’m glad that the Chancellor’s Office is requesting additional funds,” he said. “Of course, the question is where the money will come from. I don’t believe the legislators will adequately fund the CSU.”

To address the budget cuts, the Board of Trustees has increased state university fees, implemented employee furloughs and closed spring 2010 admissions for transfer students.

For the next two years, 40,000 students will not be admitted to the CSU. Freshman and transfer applications for fall 2010, however, have reached 609,000, a 28 percent increase from last year.

Fallis said the Board of Trustees has not proposed to increase student fees next school year.

Fallis said the CSU system needs the support of students and communities to advocate for the “recover and reinvest” budget.

Associated Students, Inc. President Roberto Torres said ASI and the California State Student Association will “push heavily” for the budget proposal.

“We will go to the legislators and tell them that no cut is acceptable and to set the priorities of the state for higher education,” Torres said. “We need to make a statement in California that higher education is a priority, and this budget would do just that.”

To advocate for the budget, Torres said students should participate in marches, rallies, letter writing and phone banking campaigns.

“Essentially, we just need students to be involved,” Torres said. “It’s in the best interest of students, faculty and administrators to really push for the budget.”

Torres said that although $884 million is a lot of money to ask for, a collective effort from all students from public institutions would make it possible.

Kristine Guerra can be reached at [email protected].