Governor Jerry Brown is in Washington, DC for the annual governors meeting. Monday morning President Obama met with dozens of state leaders. He urged them to invest in education after years of cuts.
President Obama spoke to a room of governors at the White House. He said, "So today I'm calling on all of you, invest more in education. invest more in our children and in our future."
President Obama is calling for change in the classroom. He wants to see more teaches on the payroll and programs focused on job training.
California is one of 40 states that has cut support to higher education to deal with a budget shortfall. According to the Cal State System, the state forked over $3 billion dollars to the CSU system in 2007. In 2011, the Cal State System received a billion dollars less.
Now students are paying more in tuition and they're getting fewer services. Mike Uhlenkamp is the CSU Chancellor Office Spokesman. He says, "We're asking for reinvestment by the state in higher education because we're going to be needing more and more skilled workers to really help the economy turn around. Hasn't seen that the state is willing to participate in that."
Governor Brown has proposed a tax hike that will help fund education. If the plan fails, K-12 and community colleges will face nearly $5 billion in cuts. The California State University and systems will see an additional $200 million in cuts.
TXT 24
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