California Faces Surge in College-Bound Students
An increase in the number of college-bound students in California will limit access to higher education there, unless the state and its universities take immediate action, a report warns.
California will add nearly 500,000 students to its public colleges and universities over the next 10 years, a jump from its current population of 2 million students, the report predicts. State revenues will not support the additional $5.2 billion needed over the next 10 years to accommodate those students, according to the report issued last month by the California Higher Education Policy Center, a San Jose-based research organization.
The report, titled “Shared Responsibility,” outlines policy proposals to help the state ease that burden, such as using existing facilities more efficiently, allowing students to receive more college credit in high school, and increasing student fees.
If the state pursues the center’s recommendations, the report concludes, the added state costs over the next decade could be reduced to about $2 billion. California now spends $6.5 billion a year on operating expenses for higher education, according to the report.
Schools Meet Deadline
Each of Kentucky’s schools has complied with a July 1 deadline to form six-member management teams, state officials said last week.
The Sixth District Elementary School in Covington was the last of more than 1,000 schools in the state to form a management council as required by the state’s 1990 education-reform law. The school’s teachers voted late last month to form a council.
The councils are composed of three teachers, two parents, and the school’s principal, and are charged with making decisions on curriculum, staffing, budgeting, discipline, and other issues.
