REPORT: GAP IN EDUCATION, PRISON FUNDS

Wilson's Office Calls Study `Drivel'

Under the administration of Gov. Pete Wilson, more state tax dollars
have gone to prisons and corrections than to the state's top two
college systems -- a gap that has never been wider in at least 30
years -- according to a study released Tuesday.

The report, which was quickly denounced by Wilson's office, was issued
by a liberal think tank called the Justice Policy Group, and it cited
a growing trend across the United States to spend on corrections, not
instruction.

``States around the country spent more building prisons than colleges
in 1995 for the first time,'' the report says. It also contends that
the number of blacks in prison compared with the number in the state's
universities has increased from 4-to-1 in 1996 to 5-to-1 this year.

``I think it's an awful sign for the future of California to
consistently invest in prisons at the expense of higher education,''
said Vincent Schiraldi of the policy group. ``I think people need to
ask (gubernatorial candidates), `What are we going to do about it?'
The system needs balance. It's grossly out of balance.''

Report criticized

But the governor's office faulted the report for selective use of
numbers, such as not lumping in state spending for community colleges.

And it said spending for higher education has always outstripped that
for corrections.

``It's not worth the tree that was killed to print the paper which
this drivel was put on,'' Sean Walsh, a Wilson spokesman, said of the
report.

Walsh contends community college spending was excised in a
disingenuous attempt to score political points. But Schiraldi counters
that community college funding should be separate because it's
guaranteed under voter-approved spending levels, unlike funding of the
University of California and California State University systems.

``Because they dominate a state's pot of discretionary funds,'' the
report concludes, ``prisons and universities fight it out for the
non-mandated portion of the state's budget,'' such as prisons and
guard salaries.

The study by the institute, which has offices in San Francisco and
Washington, D.C., also claims that contributions to higher education
have ``steadily decreased as a portion of the general fund, from 15
percent in 1988-89 to 13 percent in 1998-99. In 1980, the report says,
California had 12 prisons, and prison guards made about $21,000 annually.

Prisons up to 33

Now the prison count is 33, and correction officers' salaries average
about $46,200.

And while the funding increases have not kept pace with those for
corrections, the fees for enrolling in the schools have soared 303
percent in the UC system and 485 percent in the CSU system, the study
says.

But Walsh claims that by counting large outlays to fund community
colleges, the governor's budget in the year that expired June 30
allotted $6.6 billion for higher education and $4.2 billion for
corrections.

``This year alone, we've increased spending on higher education at the
UC level by 15.6 percent; 14.1 percent for CSU; and 6.6 percent for
community colleges,'' Walsh said.

As for the number of blacks going to prison compared with
universities, he discounts it as a bogus comparison: ``People are not
being accepted into San Jose State and then going ahead and enrolling
in San Quentin,'' he said.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry