History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
Education vs. prisons: Shifting priorities
- 08-31-2011
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By Jennifer Gollan and Sydney Lupkin/Bay Citizen
Over the past 30 years, California has spent an increasing portion of its budget on prisons — and a shrinking share on the University of California and California State University systems. The budget for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation increased from about 3 percent of the state's general fund in 1980 to 11.2 percent for this fiscal year, according to figures prepared at the request of The Bay Citizen by the state Department of Finance. Meanwhile, funding for UC and CSU dropped from 10 percent of the state's general fund 30 years ago to about 6.6 percent this fiscal year. Nationwide, state spending for criminal corrections has boomed. According to an April 2011 study by the Pew Center on the States, spending for corrections quadrupled over the last two decades, making it the second fastest growing area of state budgets, behind Medicaid. In California, spending for criminal corrections has more than tripled since 1980. The state's prison population has increased significantly over the last 30 years, largely because the state began imposing determinant sentences, meaning the vast majority of crimes have fixed prison terms. (more...)
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