[dragonwriter]

> These are publicly funded institutions.

They are institutions which are less and less public funded, and heading in the direction of the fully privatized formerly public institutions in much of the country.

> If residents feel the system does not serve them, they will defund it

They've been effectively defunding UC and CSU for decades through a number of measures, particularly the Prop 98 mandate that forces nominal budget increases to go largely to K-14 education.

That defunding is actually at the root of many of the complaints against UC, including it's reliance on non-resident students and their higher tuition.