Fresno State president John Welty sat down and talked with The Collegian on Wednesday to discuss Proposition 30 — introduced on the Nov. 6 ballot by Gov. Jerry Brown.

The tax initiative proposed would increase the state sales tax by a quarter of a cent and levy an income tax increase on wealthy taxpayers who make more than $250,000 annually in the hopes of stabilizing future funds to public education.

If the tax measure fails to pass, the California State University system stands to lose $250 million to budget cuts.

For Fresno State, it would equate to about an $8 million base budget reduction, Welty said.

The threat of another budget reduction would contribute to “what’s been almost a $1 billion reduction to the California State University over the last several years,” Welty said.

“We’re in the worst financial situation that we’ve ever been in since I’ve been here,” Welty said.­ “The consequences of the decision that’s made on Nov. 6 are probably as large as any time in the 22 years I’ve been here.“

Proposition 30’s passage would help prevent course reductions and the possibility of cutting back around 500 to 800 students on future enrollment, Welty said.

Welty said plans have been made “to get us through the current fiscal year using our reserves.”

But for the 2013-14 school year and beyond, no contingency plans have been finalized to help offset potential budget cuts.

Recent polls suggest that support for the proposition has been on a steady decline.

A USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll published on Oct. 25 showed that 46 percent of registered voters support Brown’s tax initiative. The poll’s margin of error was 2.9 percent.

Brown has tried to encourage a final push to garner support for his tax initiative. He visited four major California cities in one day on Oct. 23, and conducted conference calls with student publications from both the CSU and University of California systems in recent weeks.

“I think, in the Central Valley, it will be a very close vote just because this valley tends to be a little more conservative,” Welty said. “I think, unfortunately, it doesn’t value education at the same value that education is valued in other parts of the state.

“I think even if it were to break even in the Valley, there’s a good chance then that it’ll pass given the demographics of the rest of the state.”

The CSU is not the only system facing budget cuts.

California Community Colleges stand to lose $338 million in budget cuts. Enrollment at Fresno City College has dropped by more than 4,000 students, said Tony Cantu, the college’s president.

Community colleges, required to accept all high school graduates, will face increasing cuts in classes without the proposition’s passage.

Fresno City is part of the State Center Community College District that houses community college campuses closest to Fresno State and includes Reedley College, Madera Center, Oakhurst Center and Willow International.

Though transfer students who have completed two full years of community college will receive priority admission, incoming freshman will most likely receive the brunt of possible enrollment cuts, Welty said.

Welty said that community colleges “can only offer so many courses. So what happens is students may want to go to a community college but there’s no courses for them to take,” Welty said.

“We’re going to be faced with the reality that thousands of students that want to go to college are going to have a hard time finding a place in a public college or university.”

Brown has presented the passage of his tax initiative in the form of an ultimatum: “either yes, then the money flows into schools. Or no, and it flows out of schools by the billions. There’s no middle path here,” he told local media on Oct. 23.

Welty announced his plans to retire in the summer of 2013 before the start of the fall semester.

“I think in the last four years there’s been a year-after-year disinvestment in public higher education in the state,” Welty said.

“Hopefully it won’t get worse. Hopefully we can reach a period of stability so we can say to students the courses are there.

“It’s my intent — and I’ll be here until next summer — that by the time I finish up we will get to as stable a fiscal situation as we possibly can.

Depending upon the outcome of next week’s election, we’ll begin immediately toward taking steps to deal with whatever the reality is that we have to face.”

Click here for the full interview with President Welty.