Even though California may reduce spending on such efforts, Schwarzenegger may have opened the door to more prison education with his proposal to up the budget for the state’s higher education system from 7.5 percent to a guaranteed 10 percent by constitutional amendment. Schwarzenegger has also called for reducing California’s prison budget from 11 to 7 percent.
“Everyone here is talking about it,” says Humphrey. “If the proposal becomes reality, this may result in less prison education programs because the corrections budget will be cut. But the irony is that the state could end up with even more prison education programs than before if the colleges and universities that are interested and supportive of such programs see their budgets increased.”
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