OXNARD : Reconsideration of Voucher Vote Urged

The faculty senate of Oxnard College has asked the community college district’s board of directors to reconsider its support of the school voucher amendment.

The senate--the elected representative board for the college’s faculty--passed a resolution Monday “deploring the action of the (district) board at its September meeting and asking members to reverse their decision,” said Gary Morgan, a journalism professor and the senate president.

The district board passed a resolution Sept. 14 supporting Proposition 174, which would provide the state’s students with educational vouchers redeemable at the public, private or parochial school of their choice.

District board members debated the issue for three hours before passing, on a 3-2 vote, a resolution stating that the community college district would not be adversely affected by the measure’s passage. In discussions before and after the vote, however, board members Gregory P. Cole, Karen Boone and Timothy Hirschberg said they also supported the amendment itself.

Their action has sparked fierce debate on the district’s three college campuses, where the measure’s opponents argue that the district stands to lose millions if the proposition passes in November. The district is funded by the same monies that pay for elementary and secondary education, and that pool of money could shrink if enough elementary and secondary students take their educational voucher money to private schools.