A N AT I O N A L PA C E M A K E R AWA R D N E W S PA P E R
n o i t i d E Special theswcsun.com
November 2, 2016
Volume 60, Special Edition
Five vie to replace Peraza By Josh Navarro Assistant News Editor
Shortly after Humberto Peraza was appointed to the governing board, all hell broke loose. Armed officers raided the homes of former Southwestern College trustees and administrators, and carted away their computers, phones and files. San Diego County’s largest ever public corruption case exploded across the TV news and front pages of newspapers. Peraza was happy to see the purge and he became a warrior against the corruption that nearly shut down the college. The payfor-play era, he declared, was over. In the five years since those December 2011 raids, the college has made great progress, Peraza said. So much so that he said he is now comfortable stepping down from the board. His term expires in December and he is not running for re-election. “There’s still a lot of work to do,” he said. “I could’ve run two more times and there will still be things I wanted to get done.” Peraza was sworn into office mid-2011, to replace revered trustee Nick Aguilar, who had health issues. Peraza’s stay on the board was characterized by the three pillars of honesty, transparency and integrity, according to his supporters. Changing the culture of the college and restoring the trust of the community were the board’s main tasks, he said. During Peraza’s five-and-a-half-years on the board, the college endured political debacles, concerns over campus safety and even an Ebola scare, which was, thankfully, a hoax. “Sometimes I thought ‘What did I do to deserve this? How is this happening? How is there Ebola?’ There’s always times you think ‘what else can happen on this campus?’’” he said. Nevertheless, he embraced all challenges, he said. “Life is a lot more interesting as an elected leader when you have important decisions to make. It would be a lot more boring if we went up there every month and went ‘yes, yes, yes.’ There are a lot of issues on the campus. We had to work together.” Serving in the crucible caused the board
Proposition 55 continues K-12, college funding By Brelio Lozano Assistant News Editor
Peraza in 2012 to bond, he said. “I think this is one of the best boards in town, easily. You have a former mayor who is an attorney general, a former college superintendent, you have a (Planned Parenthood) administrator, you have a (middle school) principal.” Peraza said nobody is irreplaceable and he has no doubt that a solid new leader will follow him. Individual trustees have no power, he said. Only a majority decision can make policy. “The college is more than one person,” he said. “It’s our community. Our board is five people, six if you count the student trustee. We make a decision together. I can’t do anything by myself. My opinion is only one of six opinions. It will be fine. Somebody else will come in.” He smiled knowingly. “Immediately (after I am gone) people will be saying ‘He’s way better than Peraza!’” His days as a community activist are far from over, he said. “There’s a lot of stuff you can do as a member of the community for the college,”
$400 million Proposition Z is in voters’ hands By Brelio Lozano Assistant News Editor
Southwestern College’s largest-ever bond measure is a $400 million request to the voters that college leaders say will change the face of the college. Proposition Z is the second part of what will be a 20-year effort to expand and modernize the South County’s only public college. The Proposition requires 55 percent voter approval to pass. Proposition Z would be used to build a new Performing Arts Center in Chula Vista, a multi-level structure at the San Ysidro Higher Education Center and a repurposing of the nursing and first responder labs at the Otay Mesa HEC. Trustee Humberto Peraza said Prop Z is essential if the college is to readied for its next 50 years of service. He said the original campus built in 1964 was in bad need of modernization. Pr o p o s i t i o n Z h a s n o o r g a n i z e d opposition, though Kevin O’Neill, president of the California Taxpayer’s Network, signed an argument against it in the sample ballot. O’Neill said the measure lacked taxpayer protections against waste and a “prioritized project list.” College officials dismissed both claims and insist the funds will be used in an effective manner according to a careful plan.
...and in 2016
he said. “You can still be involved. This won’t be the last time you see me being connected to the college. This is a place you fall in love with, and I have. This (college) is, to me, home. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to try and help the college or the people on this campus.” Peraza said leaving his seat would be a bittersweet moment. “When I made the decision (to step down) in November of last year, I thought ‘a year to go!” and boom, we’re here,” he said. “It’s going to be a little bit tough. There’s going to be days where I’m going to call some people on campus and ask ‘What’s going on?’ That night will be tough, to let it go.” Just as variety is the spice of life, differing points of view can lead to robust discussions, Peraza said. Governing board members should have different perspectives, he said, and the current board does, which can lead to an occasional clash. “This board worked really well together. There are lots of times where we disagreed vigorously and we had huge debates. In the
end there was a conclusion. We decided and then we would stick together on it. Even though the debates were tough, we always came out of it the same way. We could still have a beer together. That’s what makes a good board, that you can have that type of debate and still get along afterward.” Peraza said he has plenty to keep himself busy, including his young family and the Master’s degree he is pursuing at SDSU. “I get to have dinner with my kids a couple more times,” he said. “I get to go to a few more (soccer) practices that I wouldn’t have been able to go to before. I will be able to hang out with my wife a little bit more than I have. There’ll be less calls, for sure.” Someday, Peraza said, he would like to be a college professor. He teaches three classes at SDSU, is taking two and working on his Master’s thesis. He was inspired to become a professor during his time on the board and by spending time with faculty and students. “Teaching and learning is magical,” he said. “Magic happens on college campuses every day. It sure happens at Southwestern.
The Sun endorses: Roberto Alcantar Griselda Delgado Yes on Prop. Z
In 2012 voters approved Proposition 30, a temporary marginal tax rate increase of 1-3 percent on those making more than $263,000 a year, including any small business that pays personal income tax instead of the state business tax. This tax is effective until 2018. Proposition 55 would extend the tax until 2030. If Proposition 55 passes, it will: • Extend by 12 years the temporary personal income tax increases enacted in 2012 on earnings over $250,000 for single filers and over $500,000 for joint filers. • Allocate 89 percent of these tax revenues to K-12 schools and 11 percent to California Community Colleges. • Allocate up to $2 billion in certain years for healthcare programs. • Bar use of education revenues for administration costs, but provides local school boards discretion to decide, in open meetings and subject to annual audit, how revenues are to be spent. Governor Jerry Brown said he is neither supporting nor opposing the measure. “I’m prepared to manage without it and I’m prepared to manage with it,” he said. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom supports Proposition 55, along with a coalition of teacher and health unions. Several major publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune oppose Proposition 55. The San Diego Union-Tribune’s reason for their opposition to Proposition 55 is that it maintains a status quo that “deserves demolition, not acceptance.” “Consider that the biggest beneficiary of the tax hikes by far is the California public schools system, which under Proposition 98 gets the most state revenue.” The Union-Tribune also argued that school funding is a civil rights issue and that Proposition 55 does not do enough to help low-income schools. “The evidence is endless in Sacramento that the interests of the veteran teachers in the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers are valued far more than the interests of students – especially minority students in the poorest communities,” read a UnionTribune editorial. “This persistent problem is why any broad tax hike brought to voters must be paired with reforms that fix the imbalance of power in Sacramento and school districts across California. Voters will be told over and over again in coming weeks that voting for Proposition 55 is voting ‘for the children.’ Wrong. Voting for Proposition 55 is supporting a status quo that neglects our neediest students.” The Chronicle opposed Proposition 55 for a different reason. “Our issue is not with the goal of Proposition 55, it is with the dubious means of achieving it,” wrote the Chronicle. The Chronicle argues that the funding source for education should come from a more reliable and stable source. “Its dependence on the wealthiest taxpayers leaves education highly vulnerable to the next downturn, when capital gains typically vaporize.” The Chronicle editorial said Proposition 55 relies too much on the wealthy for education funding. “To put that dependence in perspective: The top 1 percent of families account for 77.2 percent of the income-tax revenue generated by Prop. 30. A report by the respected government-reform group California Forward last year projected that the income surtax on the wealthy could drop by half — or more — in the next recession.” The Los Angeles Times shared a similar sentiment. “A tax structure that depends too heavily on a small group of people, however wealthy they may be, also presents an insidious social and political problem.”