(Photo: Proposition 92 supporters hold a campaign rally at Palomar Community College. Ana Tintocalis/KPBS )
Community colleges in San Diego County have joined forces to become one of California's most vocal groups supporting Proposition 92. The statewide ballot measure seeks to secure funding for community colleges and stabilize tuition for students. But not all educators support the proposal. KPBS Reporter Ana Tintocalis has this report.
A long line of students snakes through the campus bookstore at Palomar Community College in San Marcos. Associated Student President Jesse Lyn is among the many people waiting in line to buy textbooks.
Lyn is not your average student. She's 50 years old and a fulltime mom. Lyn says she went back to school to get a better paying job. But she says it's been tough paying for college over the past few years. That's why she's supporting Proposition 92.
Lyn: Now textbooks is a whole other issue. But it’s not an issue that is going to change at any point. We know we make a difference and a change with Prop. 92.
Prop. 92 would cut tuition from $20 per unit to $15. Lyn says saving $5 per class adds up for working students like herself. She says many people at Palomar are dropping out or don't go to college because of the rising costs.
Terry Burgess is president of San Diego City College. He says the same thing is happening on his campus. Burgess says Prop. 92 will help students get in and out of college quickly, and move on to becoming productive workers. He also supports the measure because it establishes a separate stream of state money for community colleges.
Burgess: We are the poorest funded community college system in the nation. And we're very much operating on a shoe string to begin with and we're when faced with having to make reductions on a very lean budget it always translates into losing people and therefore access to students.
Right now California's public schools get most of the education funding as mandated under Proposition 98. The amount of funding is determined based on the number of kids attending K-12 campuses every year.
Prop. 92 would change that by funding community colleges based on the size of the state's young adult population and the unemployment rate.
Burgess says that's important considering K-12 enrollment is shrinking while community college enrollment is growing every year.
But not all educators are rallying behind Prop. 92. Jim Groth is with California Teachers Association. He believes the proposed method would lock-in an enormous amount of funding for community colleges even when student enrollment drops. He believes the measure will threaten K-12 schools.
Groth: Prop 92 is not the solution to the problem we need a steady revenue so to get through the peaks and valleys of California's economy for public economy and this will just not do.
The state's legislative analyst office says Prop. 92 would cost the state nearly a billion dollars in the first three years. So far there is no solid plan for the state to implement provisions of Prop. 92. Critics also say there's no accountability system in place to ensure the money would be spent wisely.
California's School Superintendent Jack O'Connell believes a community college ballot measure is not the right way to go. He believes the real solution is to push state lawmakers to approve more funding for education across the board.
O’Connell: We can't be pitting one side of education against the other we need to make sure we enlarge that pie and not fight over slices of the pie. The reality is we need to make an additional investment in public education.
Palomar College student president Jesse Lynn believes the time to invest in community colleges is now. She says the future of California's economy is at stake.
Lynn: What are we just going to keep on doing the same thing over and over? No! So it just seems to me makes more sense to get these people educated, get them on their way, so they can be a part of the bigger picture.
Roughly 70 percent of college students in California are enrolled in a community college. Close to 10 colleges in San Diego County would benefit from the measure.
Ana Tintocalis, KPBS News.
