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Former assemblyman Marco Firebaugh is now a visiting professor at UCLA until June.

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.