Three candidates running for the State Center Community College District board of trustees addressed faculty from all SCCCD’s campuses at the State Center Federation of Teachers’ general membership meeting on Oct. 24.

Marion Montgomery-Austin, a financial adviser; Kevin Hall, executive director of the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition and John Leal, school administrator, touted their experiences and promised to support the right of unions, if elected next Tuesday.

Montgomery-Austin, a financial professional in Fresno for 30 years is seeking to unseat incumbent Patrick Patterson and beat school administrator, David Austin in District 6. John Leal is running for trsutee in Area 3, encompassing Kingsburg, Fowler, Selma, Caruthers, south and central Fresno as well as Laton. He is dueling with incumbent trustee Ronald Feaver. Kevin Hall, current executive director of the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition is running against incumbent Richard Caglia for Area 7, an area bordered by Freeway 99 to the west, McKinley to the south, Freeway 168 to the east, and extending north along Freeway 41 and east again along Herndon Avenue to Freeway 168.

Montgomery-Austin said her background in finance has prepared her for the job.

“I have the skills sets needed. I can read a budget. I can ask questions about why we are putting certain revenues in different places,” said Austin. “I have always been interested in community education. I taught financial planning class at FCC.”

She said she disagrees with the way the present board of trustees is handling the economic crunch, particularly class cuts and faculty layoffs. “We have a very depressed economy in the Central Valley, high rates of poverty. The only way we can change that situation is through education,” Montgomery-Austin said. “We need to educate people to move them out of where they are economically. I’m here to help.”

Another one of her goals as a trustee, if elected, is to put more focus on the mission of the organization. Austin accused the current board of focusing too much on the maintenance of the organization rather than the mission.

Kevin Hall, candidate for Area 7, is a father of a current FCC student. Hall is counting on his close ties with the Valley to propel him to victory. He spent much of his boyhood in Firebaugh and later moved to Fresno where he attended Bullard High School. He graduated from CSU Fresno with a bachelor’s degree in English.

For the past 12 years, Hall has worked as a clean air activist. Before that, Hall was a farm show manager and Agricultural Journalist. One of the goals for Hall if elected is to preserve union rights.

“I have worked hard to preserve union member rights. They’re a critical defense,” he said. “I think the worst are trying to take down this nation. We have to build it from the ground up.”

John Leal, retired school administrator, has plenty of experience in finance gathered as he worked with the budget when he was a high school administrator in Caruthers, Clovis, Lemoore and Fresno schools.

“I’m fiscally conservative but I spent every dime on students. I have a working knowledge of the budget,” said Leal. “I want to be more knowledgeable and make a wise decision on allotting the limited funds. I want to maintain, increase and improve summer school offerings for example. It’s unheard of not to have a summer school program. These students are working. They need to continue their education throughout the year.”

Though he has been retired for the past two years, Leal says he wanted to come back into service because his heart is still into it. “My heart is still into it. I’m young enough and energetic enough,” said Leal. “I have connections with this community. I’ve lived here all my life. I want to make a difference for the students. There are complex issues. I want to be a voice.”

Unlike in previous elections when board members can be elected throughout the SCCCD area, the four seats that are up will be decided only by voters within each trustee area boundary instead of those across all the SCCCD. Also, longtime trustee William J. Smith is not on the ballot for re-election in District 2.

With the State Center Community College District facing a crucial financial crisis, this year’s election for the board of trustees is pivotal. The 11 candidates vying for four seats are hoping to convince voters that they are most suited dealing with the district’s budget crisis.

Montgomery-Austin says she understands what needs to be done. “Particularly when revenues are down, you want to hang on to what you got. It’s the wrong thing to do,” said Montgomery-Austin. “When you have high unemployment, people needing to be trained to increase their skill level, it’s not the time to pull back the resources. I’m a fiscal conservative. I believe in having savings for rainy days but there is a lack of recognition that it is raining.”

For Montgomery-Austin the campaign process is a way to expand the knowledge and skill she already possesses.

“It has been a wonderful process. I’m getting a lesson in the early stages,” she said. “I’m learning about the way the current administration is managing the revenues. That’s what I’m interested in, where I can help.”

Leal, an FCC alumnus and father of an FCC firefighting academy student, says joining the board of trustees is his way of giving back to the community.

For Hall, it is about restoring the California dream. For the past three years, he has worked with Communities for a New California, a statewide civil and human rights organization for California families. Working with the CNC, Hall focused particularly on the state budget reform.

“We didn’t know what form (the reform) would take and it has taken the form of prop 30,” said Hall. His work with board supervisors around the state, hospital boards and bargaining committees has also given Hall reason to believe he is the right man for the job.

“When I went to school in the 1970s, it was affordable and accessible,” said Hall. “We need to get back to that.”