Skyline Against the Cuts held a teach-in on March 2 to discuss the drastic repercussions of Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget cuts to student services.

The state deficit is hovering around $25.4 billion for the 2011-12 fiscal year, and California’s college students are going to take the brunt of the proposed budget cuts. Approximately $1.4 billion is getting cut from California’s higher education budget. San Mateo County Community College District is expecting an $8 million cut.

These budget cuts not only increase tuition, but they also limit classes offered, shorten library hours, increase class sizes, and critically affect student services.

The teach-in focused on the student services that would be affected. Student services such as Child Development Services, Extended Opportunity Program and Service, and English as a Second Language programs were all affected by the string of budget cuts from previous years.

The main student service that is currently being affected by the budget cuts is EOPS. This program helps low-income students by providing them with book vouchers, meal tickets and bus passes. But for the last two years, the budget cuts to community colleges severely affected these services. It is becoming more competitive between eligible students to get these services.

Black Student Union President Floyd Madden said these services are “something that has been essential to some people to stay in school.”

Economics professor Masao Suzuki discussed and explained the effect of cyclical recession, the decline in tax revenue and other state policies regarding the state deficit.

Suzuki said that the proposed tax extensions on sales, income and vehicle taxes are regressive, meaning low-income households end up paying a higher percentage of the taxes than high-income households. The contrasting policy that could be pursued is to tax the rich, but considering that the rich have more political clout, it is less likely to happen.

Student organizer Michael Madden said that these budget cuts are only affecting the lowest economic strata of students. Since most of the student services cater to those in economic need, students from low-income households are affected the most by these budget cuts.