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Gov. Schwarzenegger's is due out today (Jan. 8), and in a preview during his State of the State address earlier this week he said he will make no cuts to education.

Not only that, but he proposed a to guarantee a set percentage of general fund revenue to higher education, by shifting money from prisons. "What does it say about a state that focuses more on prison uniforms than caps and gowns?" the governor asked in his Jan. 6 address.

UC President Mark G. Yudof called Schwarzenegger's proposal "a bold and visionary plan that represents a fundamental restoration of the values and priorities that have made California great."

But, Yudof said, for affordability, access and excellence, UC needs more than a stable budget in 2010-11. And UC needs more than the prospect of guaranteed funding in the future.

"In the short term ... there are still critical budget shortfalls that will require the attention of the governor and the Legislature," Yudof said. For 2010-11, UC has asked the governor for an additional $913 million to make up for cuts in state funding over the last two fiscal years, to fund employer contributions to the UC Retirement Plan and to support the roughly 14,000 UC students for whom the state has provided no funding.

A constitutional amendment must wend its way through the Legislature and onto the ballot (perhaps in the fall). UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi reminded: "This is a marathon, not a sprint. We must work hard to support (the governor's) vision and convince the Legislature and California’s voters that universities should be restored as higher priorities than prisons.

"At the same time," Katehi said, "we must continue our efforts to streamline our infrastructure and cut administrative costs so we can better support and strengthen the campus’s academic mission.”

The constitutional amendment, if approved by voters, would limit the state corrections budget to no more than 7 percent of the state's general fund revenue and guarantee no less than 10 percent, total, for UC and the California State University system. The funding shift would begin in the 2011-12 fiscal year and be fully realized in 2014-15.

"Spending 45 percent more on prisons than universities is no way to proceed into the future," Schwarzenegger said. It simply is not healthy. I will submit to you a constitutional amendment so that never again do we spend a greater percentage of our money on prisons than on higher education."

California needs to find ways to run its prisons more cost-effectively, he said, by allowing private prisons to compete with public prisons. California spends about $50,000 a year per inmate while other states spend $32,000, he said.

"That's billions of dollars that could go back to higher education where it belongs and where it will serve our future," he said. His proposal prohibits cost-savings being achieved through early release of prisoners.

Schwarzenegger's proposal addresses a long-standing warning from higher education leaders about the dire consequences of a growing prison budget while at the same time funding for public universities is going down.

Said Yudof: "I am extremely pleased that the governor understands how vital it is to return the University of California and the California State University system to solid financial footing."

If such a funding formula were in place for fiscal year 2009-10, based on the state budget approved last summer, UC would have received up to an additional $1.7 billion in state funds — enough to significantly address the university's budget gap.

Under the same formula, prisons would have received roughly $2.3 billion less. The proposal would allow the state to outsource prison administration to private companies to save money but would not allow the cost savings to come from early release of prisoners.

The slice of the state general fund that goes to the two public higher education systems has shrunk dramatically over the last 40 years while the prison budget has mushroomed.

In the 1967-68 fiscal year, UC and CSU received 13.4 percent of the state's general fund. By 2009-10, the proportion had dropped to 5.9 percent. At the same time, the prison's share of the budget has more than doubled from 3.9 percent to 9.7 percent.

The constitutional amendment, if it goes to the voters, would need a simple majority for passage. Getting it on the ballot can be accomplished in two ways: by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, or by signature-gathing, through the initiative process.

"I look forward to exploring the details of the governor's idea with my colleagues and to working with the governor and the Legislature to advance the cause of adequate higher education funding," UC Board of Regents Chair Russell Gould said. "The road to a stronger economy and a brighter future for California runs straight through its great public universities."

Dateline Associate Editor Dave Jones and UCOP Managing Editor Donna Hemmila contributed to this report.

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A statement from the systemwide , Henry Powell (professor of pathology at the UC San Diego School of Medicine) and Dan Simmons (law professor at UC Davis)