Schwarzenegger’s Flunked Report Card

Arnold Schwarzenegger broke his promise to protect and improve education. He suspended the minimum school funding guarantee, then broke his promise to give the money back. He raised college tuition and fees. He tried to cut college academic preparation and outreach for disadvantaged students and close the college doors on 22,000 qualified students who had studied hard and made all the grades. And now he has no plan to improve our schools or to close the state’s budget deficit without once more making deep cuts in education.

• Fully Funding Schools
  Schwarzenegger broke his promise to immediately restore $3 billion in cuts from schools. If he had kept his promise and if his top priority were education and not protecting the tax cuts given to corporations and multimillionaires, California could be making all these needed investments in schools this year.
• Tuition and Fees
  Schwarzenegger broke his promise to increase college fees by no more than 10 percent when he raised the fees for attending a community college by a staggering 44 percent. He also raised the fees to attend a state college or university while simultaneously cutting funding to financial aid programs, resulting in many qualified students not being able to afford to go to college or earn their teaching degrees.
• Outreach and Academic Preparation
  In 2004, Schwarzenegger proposed eliminating state support for college outreach and academic preparation programs that help disadvantaged students take the right courses and develop the skills they need to compete for college and succeed there. He has proposed eliminating those funds in each of his following budgets.