California's record budget deficit is threatening the state's once-vaunted education system with massive cuts, but a throng of student protesters who staged a noisy downtown march urged the governor to trim elsewhere.
Students and teachers marched from San Diego City College to the downtown Civic Center.
"When you cut community college you can't go back to high school," said Avery Ryder, Associate Student Government president of Mesa College. "This is where people become nurses, technicians, paramedics. All this job training happens at the community college level."
Southwestern College students marched with students from Palomar, Grossmont, Mira Mesa and San Diego City colleges to voice their disapproval of education budget cuts.
"I'm not much of a supporter of the rallies and things like that but I understand that education is extremely important and our legislature and our government can't take this for granted," said Grossmont College student trustee Daniel Lewis. "They need to find other ways to cut the budget. We cannot let them continue doing this in the future and think this is something they're going to be able to do."
SWC ASO President Adrian Del Rio said education should not take the biggest hit.
"We're the future leaders," said Del Rio. "They should be looking somewhere else first."
Grossmont College Director of Student Activities Julio Valerio said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is responsible for the budget crisis, not students.
"Now they're trying to put it on us and it's not fair," said Valerio.
San Diego County's march was part of a 3.2 million-student coalition formed to protest budget cuts to education. Student leaders from the Student Senate for California Community Colleges, the California State Student Association and the University of California Student Association united to get their message out that the $1 billion proposed budget cuts aimed at education could cripple California Community Colleges, California State Universities and the University of California.
Many CSU campuses - including San Diego State - have frozen enrollments, preventing community college students from transferring.
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