Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger modified his original proposed budget for 2010-2011, releasing to legislators his revisions May 14.

Included in the new budget is a guarantee of higher education funding under proposition 98, in which an additional $2 billion will go to community colleges, according to the state’s May revisions website. Prop 98 rescinds cuts to the Cal Grant Competitive Program and prevents cuts to the UC, CSU and student aid programs.

“I’ve made it very clear that we would, even though we’ve hit a $20 billion deficit, increase the funding for higher education,” Schwarzenegger said according to an ABC news report.

One of the revisions made to January’s budget is the elimination of the CalWorks program, which provides financial assistance to families below the poverty line.

If California legislators pass this cut, it would provide $1.2 billion in relief.

Despite higher education getting a boost, preschool education funding is being cut. The governor also proposed a $1.25 billion cut on state-funded childcare.

Such cuts have elicited mixed reviews and reactions to the May revisions from different educational leaders.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell issued a press release saying that California “is long overdue in creating a stable, consistent funding scheme for K-12 public education.” However, he expressed concern about the childcare cuts, calling them “another severe blow to poor and middle-class working families who are struggling to provide for their families.”

In a press release from Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project, a non-partisan public policy research group, Ross called the revisions “not the balanced, responsible approach called for at this critical time.” She added that the changes relied too much on cuts, threatening the state’s economic recovery.

CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed was pleased that Schwarzenegger has made higher education a priority and in a press release following Shwarzenegger’s original January budget said “the return of these funds will allow us to restore and preserve student access at campuses across the state.”