Assemblyman Marty Block Addresses Budget Cuts With Grossmont College Students

Assemblyman Marty Block, whose constituents in the 78th District include residents of Spring Valley, Paradise Hills, Chula Vista, Lemon Grove, Bonita, and parts of San Diego, spoke at Grossmont College Tuesday about the state budget crisis, and the dramatic effect it has had on community college budgets.

Though some of the nuances that have gone into decisions to make cuts on higher education at the state level were mentioned, the crisis, said Block, can be boiled down to a simple issue.

"By and large, the system needs more revenue," said Block, to a crowd of about 60 Grossmont students, faculty and staff members. “It’s tragic. We’ve cut billions, even over the last 3 years since I've been in office. We've gone from $120B to $85B. There are unemployed at record rates, so there's less income tax, people losing houses, so there's less property taxes. Because of this, people are not buying things so there's less sales tax coming into the state. The only way to fight this is to raise revenues.”

Because of the budget reduction, Grossmont College had to cut more than 200 courses for this semester, and more than 1,000 courses have been eliminated over the past two years.

Block then cast a shot across the aisle at his fellow Assembly members on the right, saying, "When it comes to budget, Republicans in the Assembly and in the Senate have refused to budge. They have refused to tax millionaires, have refused to tax billion-dollar oil companies in order to give you guys more classes by hiring more professors. I think it’s unconscionable."

He referenced one in particluar.

"Brian Jones, your representative, your assemblyman from this area, has failed you," Block said. "And we need to elect people—Democrat or Republican—who are willing to tax millionaires, tax oil companies, tax tobacco companies, so that you guys have more money in the schools."

Block thinks that one way that revenues can increase is to establish a tax on oil severance, which is oil taken out of the ground. He said a tax would be successful because of three factors: 1) the tax would be taken from oil corporations, some of which profitted more than $19 billion last year; 2) any tax that was "passed on to the pump" and absorbed by consumers would be spread out across the world, as California distributes its oil to all parts of the globe; and 3) Since "you can't pick up an oil well and move it out of the state," Block argues, corporations would choose to pay the tax over shutting down their oil wells and losing out on massive profits.

Block answered questions from a panel of three, which included Sue Gonda, president of the Grossmont College Academic Senate; Russ Lindquist, editor of the Grossmont College Summit, the student newspaper; and Marc Arizmendez, news director for Griffin Radio, the campus radio station.

Arizmendez asked about the issue of violence on college campuses. Block referenced AB 620, a bill which, if passed, would require four-year colleges and community colleges to establish and publish policies and penalties for harassment, intimidation and bullying of individuals based on sexual orientation. These would become part of rules of student conduct.

Another issue brought forth by Lundquist was that of so many students being denied admission and having no appeals process.

The Grossmont-Cuyamacca Community College District announced before the start of classes in August that more than and put on a waiting list because of a $6.3 million reduction in funds from the state.

Block talked about AB 670, which he said was signed by Governor Jerry Brown two weeks ago. The law now requires California state campuses include directions for an appeals process when distributing admission denial letters.

Another issue Block addressed was that of trying to establish a unifying standard "assessment test," which would govern each of the state's 72 community college districts. The bill (AB 743) is currently on the governor's desk, Block said.

"[The bill] will make it a lot easier for folks to get in and get out of community colleges, and four-year schools if you choose to go that route," he said. "It takes much longer to graduate, especially now because courses are full, so you shop around for classes, and all of a sudden when you see that there is a class open, you have to take a different assessment test before you can take that class.

"That’s one of the things you can do when you don’t have more money, because you’re using that money more efficiently."

Before his election to the state Assembly, Block served for eight years as president of the San Diego Community College Board, and prior to that served an equal length of time on the County Board of Education. He also has taught and served on the staff of San Diego State University.