CSU To Ask For Extra $100M In Its Next State Budget

California State University officials say they need more funding than Governor Jerry Brown has planned.

The CSU Board of Trustees will vote for $240-million dollar proposed state budget at its meeting Tuesday, $100 million more than the governor has called for.

Governor Brown plans to gradually raise CSU funding through 2018, if the system doesn’t raise tuition.

CSU says even with annual increases, its budget still has fallen.

"The California State University’s operating budget is still roughly $200 million below our pre-recession levels," says Laurie Weidner, Assistant Vice Chancellor.

The proposed budget would increase spending on student enrollment, building repair, and employee salaries.

CSU would also raise salaries for all employees by two percent.

Even if they do get the money, teachers may not be happy. The faculty union is calling for a higher increase starting this year, and those are not accounted for in the budget.

"We’ve had stagnant salaries for quite some time, certainly since 2008," says Jennifer Eagan, president of the California Faculty Association. "Now is the time for us to be able to catch up."

Weidner says the current budget has already been set, and any additions for faculty this year would come with a cost next year.

"It would have to come out of some other funded priority," says Weidner. "We would take less students into the CSU. It means we would not be addressing our facility needs, which at this point are over $2.6 billion."

Teachers plan to protest outside the Board of Trustees meeting.