FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Statement from the California Federation of Teachers on the UC Regents’ plan to increase student tuition:

“As today’s student protests at the UC Regents’ meeting and elsewhere in the system reveal, the Regents’ plan to increase student tuition will not be accepted without a fight,” said Bob Samuels, a UCLA lecturer and president of the University Council-AFT, representing lecturers and librarians throughout the University of California. “This is especially true in light of the state’s announcement that its tax revenues are two billion dollars higher than expected.”

“It’s past time to restore the university programs that were slashed during the Great Recession,” said Joshua Pechthalt, president of the California Federation of Teachers. “The University of California is an important part of the progressive engine of the state economy. The burden for making that engine run should not be placed on the backs of students who continue to be priced out of higher education. California has the resources to fund the UC properly.”

“We are glad that Governor Brown is arguing against the proposed tuition increase, but the solution he is offering—to tighten the system’s belt still further—is unrealistic and unfair,” said Pechthalt. “The governor should fold a sizeable chunk of the state’s new revenues into the budget of the state’s higher education systems so that the working families of California may be able to afford once again to send their children to UC, the CSU, and the community colleges.”

Added Samuels, “The Regents are correct to tell Governor Brown that the UC needs to be returned to adequate levels of state funding, but they should offer one more part of the bargain, and that is to be fully transparent in how they will spend the money. The public has to know that funding is being sent to the classroom, not to padding upper administrative salaries.”

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The California Federation of Teachers represents 120,000 education employees, from Head Start through the University of California. It is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO.