Executive Day

Today, we started the day with a visit to the Governor's office. Unfortunately, the Governor was unable to meet with us due to a family death, but we did get a chance to speak to Lizzy Norvell, his External Affairs Coordinator. She described to us Governor Jerry Brown's office, duties, and history. He is a very busy man and some of the biggest issues that he is currently working on  are: water, the high speed rail system, and the common core in education. At the time of his taking office, California was in a $25 billion deficit and Gov. Jerry Brown was able to miraculously overcome this by implementing across-the-board budget cuts. One of the biggest differences between Jerry Brown’s and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Administration, in the opinion of the External Affairs Coordinator, was that Schwarzenegger was a lot more flashy than Brown. However, she notes that Brown has a more efficient approach to public policy, always wanting to do more with less (in terms of staff, budget expenses, etc). We also learned about his dog, Sutter, and Pat Brown, who refused an offer to be John F. Kennedy’s VP during JFK’s presidential campaign. We also attended a legislature meeting where Senate Bill 373 was discussed. This bill would require for California Community Colleges to limit new hires to only full-time faculty until they reach a 75%:25% full-time to part-time ratio of teachers. Much of the debate centered around professor availability to students, professor dedication, etc. This topic was very important to us because it would have a direct impact on Santa Barbara City College and our professors.