Letter to the Editor -- KENT S. MOORE

It is indeed distressing to read the plight of the Coast Community

College District’s instructional programs (“Governor’s budget cuts gouge

Orange County’s community colleges,” Aug. 7), along with its ongoing

sewer, air conditioning and roof maintenance problems. However, isn’t it

mandated by law that the board of trustees set aside money for facility

repairs?

It seems to me that this is exactly what happened in the Newport-Mesa

Unified School District. Where was board oversight both there and at

Coast as the building and other facilities crumbled over a period of many

years? They should have anticipated possible future budget cuts and

addressed cost-effectiveness and sound business practices as private

sector fiduciaries are required to do. Does this reflect the same kind of

sound financial management by the college district in the Daily Pilot

several years ago?

Perhaps we should be asking some of these questions of Chancellor

William Vega and trustee Walter Howald like we did just a few years back.

For instance, has the board and the administration continued their

excessive and highly expensive foreign and domestic travel during

cutbacks and reduced student services? Do they still have the highest

community college administrator-to-teacher ratio in Orange County? Are

the board salaries and perks still the highest in the county? Do the

instructors’ salaries still rank among the lowest in the state with the

administrators ranking at the top end?

Are there any new studies that show a lack of confidence in

administration and the board? Is the board still enlisting outside

management studies where few of the recommendations are ever put in

place? Is there still a lack of community involvement in shared

decision-making and governance, which was to be an integral part of

district restructuring? If the answer is “yes,” how does all of this

equate with the district’s past statements of “keeping educational

dollars in the classroom?”

In the past, Vega and Howald have touted sound financial management,

changes for improvement, and being in the forefront over and over again.

I believe that it is quite possible that the public is still being

misled by statements made by this district. Each tax dollar should

benefit actual classroom instruction, and excessive administrative costs

must be reduced. While the governor’s 2001-02 budget cuts have been

severe, prudent emergency planning may have been able to soften the blow

to some extent. A school board must be open and candid about its

governing practices so that it will have the respect and support of those

it serves. They must be watchdogs too.

KENT S. MOORE

Corona del Mar

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Kent S. Moore is a Corona del Mar resident who

campaigned for Coast Community College Trustee Area 5 in 1994.