March on Sacramento! California Students Unite Against Fee Hikes and Budget Cut

Education is a Human Right: A Right No Governor Should Be Allowed to Terminate Announcing a massive state-wide student march to Sacramento on March 15, 2004. Last year 10,000 to 15,000 California Community College students marched on Sacramento to oppose fee hikes and cuts to state funding of higher education in one of the largest mass movements to hit the capital in decades. Mother Jones magazine ranked last year’s march as the second most important student uprising world wide in the year 2003, which ranked higher than all anti-war marches combined.

This year, the situation for education is much worse with cuts and fee hikes being proposed on all levels. Schwarzenegger’s defiance of the state’s Educational Master Plan (http://www.sen.ca.gov/masterplan), his refusal to abide by California’s Proposition 98, and his plans to raise fees, lower services, and deny access is forcing students and faculty statewide to unite and rise up. Students from high schools, community colleges, state universities, and the University of California system are mobilizing busloads of students to go back to Sacramento on March 15 and present the governor and legislature with our message: Don’t Balance the Budget on the Backs of Students. The Poorest Students Can’t Afford to Foot the Bill for the State’s Budget Crisis.

UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and City College of San Francisco will be bringing over 5000 students to Sacramento. We invite all members of the community and the press to join us in protecting our human right to an education.

Additionally, the state’s community college students will be presenting 120 artistically crafted statues representing the 175,000 students who found the doors to community colleges locked this year.

The Facts on Schwarzeneggar’s Destructive Budget Plan:
· Fee Hikes: Arnold is breaking his campaign promises by trying to raise tuition fees at all community, state, and University of California colleges. He wants to raise community college tuition from $18 to $26 a unit, raise UC and CSU undergrad fees by 10%, and graduate fees by 40%, and turn away 8200 students from the UCs. Fee hikes from last year have already priced out over 175,000 students from the Community College System.
· Schwarzenegger plans to dramatically cut educational spending, meaning that thousands of teachers and staff will lose their jobs, thousands of classes will be cut, and the remaining classes will be crammed over capacity.
· Termination of Higher Education Outreach: The 2003-2004 state budget saw a 50% cut in funding to UC Outreach programs that ensure access to quality education for poor, working class, and minority students. Governor Schwarzenegger now plans to terminate all remaining state funding (33.3 million) for the UC Outreach programs. This provides zero funding for 2004-2005 and will annihilate these valuable programs.
· Huge Cuts to Financial Aid: The UC system will lose 20% of its financial aid funding under Arnold’s budget cut plan. The CSU and Community College system will also suffer dramatic cuts in this area.
· Education is a Human Right: Regardless of class, ethnicity, or gender- education is our birthright, a right that we are holding the state accountable to insure.