Assemblyman Wilk Co-Authors Legislation To Increase CSU Enrollment

Posted by: Perry Smith in Santa Clarita News August 21, 2013 - 11:03 am 0 144 Views

Assemblyman Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, signed on to legislation calling for the appropriation of an additional $22 million from the general fund to the California State University system.

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The money would be earmarked for the CSU system and devoted to helping students, Wilk said.

“One of the promises from the community college system is that you’re going to have access to the CSU system when you graduate, and we haven’t been able to honor that due to the budget cuts,” Wilk said. “(Gov. Jerry Brown) promised that all of the money (from Proposition 30) would go to education, and that wasn’t true.”

“We need to honor the commitment that we made to voters, and this is one way we can honor that, by keeping our word,” he added.

Senate Bill 682, authored by state Sen. Ricardo Lara, would provide California State Universities with the resources needed to enroll up to 6,000 California Community College transfer students for the Spring 2014 term.

It is estimated that as many as 30,000 eligible students will be denied admission because the Budget Act of 2013 did not include sufficient funding to meet enrollment growth needs.

“As a former transfer student myself, I understand the struggles of a community college student who has completed all the requirements and is still denied admission,” Wilk said. “Increasing the ability for community college students to transfer to a CSU would help students reach their educational goals in a timely manner and save taxpayer dollars by avoiding redundant instructional costs.

“Also, we must fulfill the Prop 30 promise and make dreams of attaining a bachelor’s degree a reality,” Wilk said, describing education as not a partisan issue, but a moral one.

The 38th Assembly District encompasses Simi Valley, the northern section of the San Fernando Valley and most of the Santa Clarita Valley.

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