Cal State won't hike tuition next fall. California State University officials said Tuesday they would not increase tuition next fall, even though the governor's budget leaves them far short of the money needed to increase enrollment and pay for other critical operations.
Officials had requested $372 million for student programs, urgent maintenance, enrollment growth and other services for the 2013-14 academic year. Cal State faculty agree to four-year no-raise contract. California State University and its faculty union announced a tentative agreement Tuesday on a four-year contract that provides no pay raises but averts the potential for strikes this fall at the system's 23 campuses.
Los Angeles budget: Los Angeles City Council approves budget cuts to police, fire and parks in closing a $336-million gap. The Los Angeles City Council passed a $6.9 billion budget Wednesday, closing a $336-million revenue shortfall by eliminating police overtime pay and shutting down some fire engine teams — but avoiding employee layoffs.
Unlike state lawmakers, who recently found their budget deficit eased by an unexpected $6.6-billion influx of tax receipts, revenue projections in Los Angeles remain flat. The budget cuts approved on a 15-0 council vote were less agonizing than in recent years, when officials slashed thousands of jobs and imposed citywide furloughs. That was partly due to past layoffs, along with an assortment of concessions from city workers negotiated earlier this year, City Council President Eric Garcetti said.
Cal State students, faculty decry pay hikes for campus presidents. The California State University Board of Trustees on Tuesday approved pay raises for several incoming campus presidents despite criticism from some students and faculty that the money would be better spent on academic programs. Community colleges hit by $149-million shortfall - latimes.com. A Case Study In How Infographics Can Bend The Truth. We’ve made the point time and time again that charts and graphs, though they feel official and true, can lie.
Rarely do you get to see that at work, but the good folks at Hyperakt have sent us a prime case study in infographic deception. Statistical terms used in research studies; a primer for journalists. (Wikimedia) When assessing academic studies, media members are often confronted by pages not only full of numbers, but also loaded with concepts such as “selection bias,” “p-value” and “statistical inference.”
Statistics courses are available at most universities, of course, but are often viewed as something to be taken, passed and quickly forgotten. Layoffs are likely in Compton as auditor questions city's solvency - latimes.com. An independent auditing firm has concluded that Compton's budget crisis is so dire that it's an open question whether the city can remain solvent.
The auditor's report was made public as the Compton City Council struggles to deal with a fiscal crisis, voting this week to lay off employees. California state colleges and universities will get more than $200 million in stimulus funds. Amid ongoing uncertainty over state support for higher education, California's public colleges and universities heralded a rare bit of good news Thursday, announcing they will receive more than $200 million in federal stimulus funds that will allow many campuses to admit new students, restore courses and retain faculty and staff.
The University of California and California State University each will receive $106 million, and the California Community Colleges $5 million. The money is one-time funding, the final round of dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Montebello financial crisis: Montebello could face insolvency if budget gap isn't closed. Montebello faces possible insolvency in the coming months if it cannot close a gaping budget deficit and has consulted with bankruptcy attorneys to weigh available options, according to a memo obtained by The Times.
The memo, written last week to the City Council by Montebello's departing city manager, also said the city could face the potential of "bond default or other difficulties" if it does not repay the $17 million it borrowed from its redevelopment agency by June 30. Additionally, the city is struggling with cash flow. If it cannot get a loan by September, "the functions of local government [could] shut down," according to the memo Peter Cosentini sent to the council. 7 mistakes journalists make when covering the debt ceiling debate (& how to avoid them) The federal debt ceiling debate has become an important story across the U.S. as politicians continue to clash over how to handle the crisis.
Negotiations between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner collapsed on Friday then resumed this weekend, leaving even greater uncertainty about how, and when, an agreement will be reached. Earlier this month, the debate drove coverage of the economy to its highest level in three months, and to its second highest level all year, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., holds his hand up as he whispers to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, during a photo opportunity in the House Speaker’s office before a meeting on the debt limit increase on Capitol Hill in Washington on Saturday, July 23, 2011. Deborah Borda orchestrates the creative chaos of the L.A. Philharmonic.