ELECTIONS / SANTA MONICA COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT BOARD : Candidates Agree--All Roads Lead to Capitol

If there was one thing on which the candidates for the governing board at Santa Monica College could agree at their forum last week, it was on the need to cultivate friends in Sacramento.

The tuition increases recently approved by the Legislature, the candidates said, have made the point all too clear.

This fall, California residents pay $6 per unit or $60 per semester, whichever is less, to attend community college. But starting Jan. 1, the fee goes up to $10 per unit with no cap, and students who already hold a bachelor’s degree will pay $50 per unit.

Educators fear the state-imposed rate increase will keep thousands of students with degrees from taking personal enrichment or job retraining courses at community colleges. And at the forum on Monday, all candidates for the Santa Monica Community College District Board of Trustees agreed that the state budget crunch requires that community colleges fight aggressively for their interests in the Capitol.

“It looks to me like the control is coming from Sacramento,” a man in the audience said. “What should board members do individually to speak out in Sacramento?”

Five candidates are vying for three seats on the college board. They are incumbents Blyden S. Boyle, Ilona Jo Katz, and Pat Nichelson, and challengers Nancy G. Cattell and Annette Shamey.

Nichelson, president of the California State University faculty union, advocated personal lobbying of a new Legislature that is expected to include many new faces.

“Politicians are more interested when a faculty organization goes in rather than when a trustee walks in,” said Nichelson, who in addition to his union duties is a religion professor at Cal State Northridge. “They count votes, apparently.”

Katz, a trustee since 1977, said a letter-writing campaign by community members would help draw the attention of legislators.

Boyle said he was impressed when members of the Los Angeles Unified School District teachers union stormed Los Angeles International Airport and the state Capitol. “We’re just not mad enough yet,” he said.

Shamey called for teaming with other community colleges in lobbying efforts. Cattell suggested having more than two board representatives in Sacramento.

If history is a guide, college board incumbents will have a solid edge over newcomers in the Nov. 3 election.

Turnover on the board has been low. Four of the seven members have been serving since 1983 or before.

The board sets policy for the college and oversees a $59-million budget, said college spokesman Bruce Smith.

At Monday’s forum, candidates disagreed over which programs it is most important to protect during a period of diminishing resources.

Although it is a point of pride at Santa Monica College that it feeds more students to UC campuses than any other community college in the state, the plain-spoken Cattell denounced the emphasis on transferring students, saying it has hurt vocational programs. She cited the recent closure of an industrial pattern-making program, and the scaling back of courses in electronics and mechanic training.

Four-year degrees may not be as valuable as they seem, she added. The college enrolls a large number of students with degrees, dubbed “reverse transfers.”

“If transfers are so hot,” Cattell asked, “why are there reverse-transfers?”

Katz, who is married to Councilman Herb Katz, said vocational programs fold when demand from local businesses dries up. Much of Santa Monica’s manufacturing industry has moved away, she said, and local hospitals are hiring registered nurses instead of licensed vocational nurses, a one-year program recently dismantled at the college.

“Why should we buy into programs for (out-of-district) students to come in and use back where they came from?” Katz said. “You’ve got to look at what we’ve got (in Santa Monica). We got banking, we got RAND. We need programs that help residents stay in this community and contribute to the tax base.”

Because colleges receive money from the state based on attendance, Nichelson said he supports the college giving students what they want. “It’s a simple force of nature,” he said. “As long as you’re paid for enrollment, the traffic controls the mission.”

Boyle said vocational programs are losing ground and should be brought back into balance with transfer-oriented programs.

Shamey also called for more emphasis on vocational programs.

A handful of residents raised concerns about traffic generated by the college’s 26,000 students. They asked the board to cooperate with a citywide neighborhood traffic plan that will be presented to the City Council in the coming weeks.

Santa Monica’s two most powerful political groups have announced their endorsements. Santa Monicans for Renters Rights has endorsed Nichelson, Boyle and Shamey. The Santa Monica Democratic Club endorsed Nichelson, Boyle and Cattell.

Katz said she has never won endorsements from either of these groups. “It hasn’t hurt me,” she said.