FORUM — From left, Ruth Luevanos, Joe Piechowski and Bernardo Perez attend a community forum for Ventura County Community College District candidates Oct. 1 at the High Street Arts Center in Moorpark. The event was hosted by the League of Women Voters Ventura County and the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce. MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers

Taxes, campus demonstrations and increasing enrollment and graduation rates were the focus of a candidate forum for the Ventura County Community College District Board of Trustees held Tuesday at the High Street Arts Center in Moorpark.

The forum featured three candidates seeking to represent Area 4, which includes Moorpark and Simi Valley. Incumbent Bernardo Perez joined challengers Ruth Luevanos and Joe Piechowski to discuss their visions for the future of community colleges.

The nonpartisan League of Women Voters of Ventura County and the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce sponsored the debate, with league member David Maron serving as moderator. The candidates gave opening and closing statements and answered questions from the audience.

Perez, a longtime Moorpark resident, is seeking his fifth term after serving on the board for 14 years. He previously served on the Moorpark City Council, including as mayor.

Today, he is chairman of the community college board and represents Ventura County on a statewide board. He is also active in civic organizations such as the Workforce Investment Board and Simi Valley Hospital Foundation and works in economic development.

Perez highlighted Moorpark College’s national ranking of fourth among 1,200 community colleges and its selection as a top 10 finalist for the 2025 national Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. He also pointed to district programs that included free tuition, free textbooks, dual enrollment for high school students and new four-year bachelor’s degrees at all three colleges.

The incumbent described the challenges facing the district, including financial pressures due to a looming state deficit.

“Our colleges truly create hope and opportunity and change lives,” Perez said. “But we must continue to respond to the needs of our students, especially during challenging times.”

Piechowski, a Simi Valley resident and co-founder of a UCLA sports blog, was a commissioner of the Area Housing Authority of Ventura County and chairman of Simi Valley Neighborhood Council 4.

He entered the race after opposing an $820 million bond proposal that was nearly placed on the November ballot by the college board, noting that Perez had voted to put it on the ballot to set.

“Our sitting trustee and community college district administrators have lost touch with reality,” Piechowski said.

Additionally, he called the dual enrollment program, which allows high school students to earn college credit, one of the most valuable initiatives in the district.

Piechowski promised to further expand it and at the same time advocated for more investment in business training.

He also spoke out about demonstrations on college campuses and said he supports the First Amendment and free speech.

But when demonstrations like those at UCLA and elsewhere around the country “lead to situations in which terrorist sympathizers prevent students from doing so.”