SANTA ANA : Budget Dominates College Board Race

The question of how to provide a quality education in spite of a battered economy and plummeting state funding is the overriding issue for candidates in the Rancho Santiago Community College District race this year.

The election comes just months after the board was forced to cut its 1992-93 budget by more than $7 million to $66.7 million. The painful reductions included reducing the clerical and counseling staff, reducing weekend classes starting in spring 1993 and increasing student health fees.

Many district, state and community leaders contend that state funding for community colleges may decline even further over the next few years, a possibility not lost on the nine candidates for four open board seats. Each said that fiscal responsibility and efficiency must be paramount in decision-making.

Incumbents in the race include board President Brian E. Conley, who is now finishing his first four-year term, and Michael Ortell, who has served since 1979. John M. Raya and Mara Brandman, who were appointed to fill board seats vacated in mid-term by two founding trustees, are seeking reelection as well.

Raya will join Conley and Ortell in the race for the open Area 1 seats against challengers including educational development specialist Enriqueta L. Ramos and management consultant Ginger L. Cahill. Brandman will seek to regain her Area 3 seat against elementary school principal Tom Saenz, computer programmer Alvin Suehiro, and U.S. Marshal Special Deputy Joseph Vanderhoff.

Every candidate called fiscal responsibility the prime concern. Conley, Saenz, Brandman, Suehiro and Raya said that they would try to wring the most value from each dollar spent. Cahill said the district should build its reserves instead of borrowing money, and echoed Vanderhoff’s contention that the district should find alternative sources of funding.

The district should maintain its current level of teachers and programs, and seek greater funding participation from the private sector, as well as city, state and federal grants, Ramos said. Ortell said that he would continue to fight against pay reductions or layoffs for full-time staff and faculty, and improve ethnic diversity of employees and students.

Perhaps more than usual, voters in this election will have an opportunity to affect district policies. With trustees often split into opposing factions, 4-3 votes are not uncommon and the defeat of any one of the four incumbents could dramatically change the board’s character.

Conley and Trustee Charles W. (Pete) Maddox are closely aligned and tend to side with Brandman and Ortell. Trustees Shirley Ralston and Carol Enos have tended to vote together, often joined by Raya.

Rancorous past conflicts on the board have prompted one candidate to make peacemaking an election issue. Vanderhoff said that he would use his skills as an arbitrator to take the bitterness out of hard-edged debates.