Showing posts with label College/Univeristy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label College/Univeristy. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Literacy . . . Info . . . News . . . Questions

Our State, Our Schools:
California Students Take it Back!California Prison Moratorium Project Blog: February 8, 2010 Originally printed in the Fresno Undercurrent

Once upon a time California held the model public education system in the country, seeing educating youth and workers, regardless of income, as a crucial investment. In the 1980s a drastic priority shift occurred, redirecting funds from education to other, less beneficial industries such as the prison industrial complex.

Since 1980 California State University has lost $650 million in state general funding support and student fees have increased 1,188%, from $231 a year to today’s $2,976 . This past year alone fees have been raised 32% and the coming year is looking at another fee hike.

Teachers are getting laid off, classes have been cut, mandatory furloughs for nearly 47,000 employees reduce class time, and enrollment caps kept out 35,000 incoming freshman for the 2010 spring semester and the winter semester is looking about the same. The University of California system and community colleges have all had similar funding problems.

Governor Schwarzenegger’s most recent budget plan includes another $2.4 billion in cuts from education while the state is eagerly moving forward on a $12 billion prison expansion project. READ MORE !

Invest in communities not cages... It’s the only solution

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Literacy . . . Info . . . News . . . Questions - PPIC Skills Gap

Educating California: Choices for the Future
Public Policy Institute of California - PPIC
Hans Johnson - June 2009

The bad news is that California is facing a “skills gap” - a shortage of college graduates - that threatens its economic future. But the good news is that modest improvements in college enrollment, community college transfers, and the college completion rate, particularly in the California State University system, could help to narrow that gap substantially. These improvements will not only help California’s young adults succeed in an increasingly high-skill economy but will also benefit the state by increasing tax revenues and allowing for greater economic growth.

California’s economy is becoming increasingly dependent on highly educated workers. But unless young adults’ college-going and college graduation rates increase substantially, the supply of graduates is not likely to meet the demand. PPIC projects that by 2025, 41 % of jobs will require at least a bachelor’s degree— but only 35 percent of California adults will have college diplomas.