Former assemblyman Marco Firebaugh launched his quarter-long
tenure as a visiting professor with a lecture focusing primarily on
the state of education funding in California.
Firebaugh, who served the maximum three terms as an assemblyman
representing Bell Gardens, Commerce and South Gate among other
cities, repeatedly criticized Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s
attempts to cut education funding to reduce the state’s
deficit.
“It’s kind of interesting that the governor would go
to education to find the bulk of his savings,” Firebaugh
said. “It’s perplexing given the state’s
population and their interest in high quality schools.”
Reminding the small, predominantly Latino audience of his humble
upbringing as the son of a garment worker, Firebaugh talked
generally about the effects of personal experience on one’s
outlook and involvement in public policy.
“Where we come from, what our parents do, impacts the way
we view society and hope to change it,” Firebaugh said.
Following the same train of thought, the former assemblyman
blamed Schwarzenegger’s education cuts on those who surround
and advise him.
“The people around him who influence him are very much
focused on health and human services, not education,”
Firebaugh said. “I can only describe this as a function of
Maria Shriver.”
Firebaugh voiced his concern with the governor’s proposal
to suspend Proposition 98 for the second straight year. Proposition
98, added to the state constitution by voters in 1988, guarantees
that approximately 40 percent of general expenditures will go
toward funding education.
“If we followed the governor’s proposal on education
spending, we’d be right around Mississippi in per pupil
spending,” Firebaugh said. “We’re the richest
state in the richest nation and being at the level of a poor
Southern state is just unacceptable.”
Firebaugh, known by his colleagues as a leader in health care
legislation in the Assembly, said cuts in education will be
especially troublesome because they will result in more racially
homogeneous college campuses. This outcome would allow fewer
minority students to enter the medical field, leading to even less
effective health care service in minority communities.
Firebaugh believes there is a growing shortage of doctors with
the cultural competencies necessary to allow them to effectively
care for patients in minority communities.
“If you can’t communicate with your care provider,
you can’t inform her of what ails you,” Firebaugh
said.
Firebaugh received a warm welcome from the small group of about
15 who gathered at the Faculty Center, many of whom were students
from nearby colleges.
“You don’t get to see what’s really going on
when you turn on the news, and this really gave me an insight
regarding education in the state of California,” said Richard
Rodriguez, a second-year student at Cerritos College.
Students concerned with cuts in education funding should
organize sit-ins, pressure UC regents and form delegations to go to
Sacramento and meet with the governor, Firebaugh said.
“This battle brewing in Sacramento is going to come down
to us,” Firebaugh said. “Students have got to be
engaged in this budget fight.”
Firebaugh, who graduated from the UCLA School of Law, will be
serving as a visiting professor at the Center for the Study of
Latino Health and Culture, a subdivision of the medical school,
until June.
The former assemblyman will be on campus two days a week
conducting research, meeting with students, and lecturing,
Firebaugh said. He is considering a run for the state senate after
he completes his work at the university.
“This is a man who truly cares about the development and
state of California,” said Dr. David E. Hayes-Bautista,
director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and
Culture.