Thousands of college students rally for education in Sacramento on Monday. They want Governor Brown to restore funding to higher education. They're also asking voters to support proposed tax initiatives. About 60 students from U.C. Merced, Fresno City College and Fresno State made the trip to Sacramento. They said they wanted their voices heard, but aren't very hopeful the governor will respond.
“I know Governor Brown will hear the message. Will he listen to it? I don't know, but we may as well try the best we can,” said Fresno State student Sean Kiernan over the phone from Sacramento.
One Fresno State student said he believes cuts to higher education are happening because many college students don't vote. Tuition at California state schools has gone up by over 300% percent since 2000. Many at the rally spoke in support of proposed tax initiatives on the November ballot to tax millionaires.
“It's time for California to wake up and start reinvesting in its league again,” said Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom.
But Assemblywoman Linda Halderman counters in a statement that those are the same people who enacted the trigger cuts that would further de-fund higher education.
"The majority party in Sacramento showed their true colors by authoring AB 121 (Blumenfield), which enacted devastating education trigger cuts on California's students. I voted against this because defunding our children's future is reckless and shows extreme short-sightedness."
Fresno State's A.S.I. President begs voters to pass any tax hike initiatives in November that benefit education funding.
“So I do understand that it's very difficult for everybody and certainly we sympathize with everyone, but this is one area where we've been able to demonstrate that it's a full cycle sort of thing and supporting education is supporting California,” said Selena Farnesi.
After the rally, some students met with legislators to further discuss education funding.