The dire condition of the California state budget is a tough reality. At the same time, the California Faculty Association does not believe that the budget crisis means that we must dismantle one of the great university systems in the world — the CSU.
An economic recovery will come, and when it does we want the CSU to remain a great resource for the people of California. To that end, CFA adopted a set of principles to guide budget cuts and changes in spending during the crisis:
• Protect Instruction.
• Focus on Management Expenditures.
• Reduce Non-Essential Operating Expenditures.
• Reassess CMS/PeopleSoft Expenditures.
• Avoid Campus-Based Fee Increases.
• Seek Out Non-General Fund Resources.
• Transparency.
• Consultation.
• Post-Reduction Assessment.
These principles will help to protect
the CSU’s educational mission:
PROTECT INSTRUCTION. Even in difficult budgetary times, the CSU’s core mission, instruction, must be maintained. Budget reductions should not result in the cancellation of classes or faculty layoffs. Every effort should be made to maintain existing class sizes and the current student-to-faculty ratio. All tenure-track recruitments should continue.
FOCUS ON MANAGEMENT EXPENDITURES. Budget reductions should be met primarily by reducing managerial costs and by moving to a “leaner,” more efficient managerial structure. Noncritical management positions should be identified and eliminated. Vacant management positions should be left open and searches for non-critical management positions should be halted.
REDUCE NON-ESSENTIAL OPERATING EXPENDITURES. Non-instructional operating expenditures (i.e. travel, maintenance, printing, supplies, new contracts, etc.) should be evaluated against their contribution to student instruction. Non-essential operating costs should be eliminated.
REASSESS CMS/PEOPLESOFT EXPENDITURES. System-wide expenditures for CMS/PeopleSoft have been significant. The project’s delay could have the effect of sparing classes and/or student service programs from budget reductions. A delay also could provide the opportunity to address the serious concerns raised in the state audit of CMS.
AVOID CAMPUS-BASED FEE INCREASES. Campuses should not attempt to “backfill” budget reductions by increasing campus-based fees. CSU students already face system-wide fee increases.
SEEK OUT NON-GENERAL FUND RESOURCES. To the greatest extent possible, campuses should fund overhead from grants, salary savings, revenue from university enterprises, unrestricted budget reserves, special funds, unrestricted foundation revenue and other sources of non-general fund monies (excluding revenue from additional student fee increases) to offset budget reductions.
TRANSPARENCY. Detailed budget reduction plans should be developed and distributed to key university constituents (student governance, academic senate, employee unions, alumni, etc.) prior to their final approval.
CONSULTATION. The Campus President should meet with the local CFA leadership to discuss the budget reductions, with a special focus on how to best maintain access and instructional quality in the face of budget cuts.
POST-REDUCTION ASSESSMENT. Campus and system-wide administrators should document and publicly disseminate specific information about what budget reductions were made, how much each budget cut saved, and how each reduction affected the primary mission of the institution.
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