Schools

College District Votes to Place $350M Bond on Ballot

Trustees say money is needed to continue to upgrade old district buildings and educate more students who can't afford U.C. and Cal State systems.

West Valley-Mission Community College District trustees have voted unanimously to place a higher education funding measure on the June 2012 ballot.

According to Bradley J. Davis, the district's associate vice chancellor, the vote favoring the $350 million bond was taken to ensure students at West Valley and Mission colleges continue to have access to high quality, affordable higher education.

West Valley College in Saratoga and Mission College in Santa Clara enroll more than 26,000 students annually. The district serves residents of Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga, Campbell, Cupertino, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara and is governed by the seven-member board. There are about 12,000 students attending WVC.

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“With the U.C. and Cal State systems becoming increasingly expensive, more and more students are relying on local community colleges,” said West Valley-Mission Community College District Trustee Adrienne Grey. “For many students, our local community colleges are the main entry point for to higher educations. We must invest in our colleges so we can continue to provide local students with a high-quality, affordable education and the job training programs they might not otherwise receive.”

District Chancellor John E. Hendrickson said the measure was needed to update academic facilities and technology to better prepare students for transfer to four-year universities and provide them with the education they need for the high-demand jobs of the 21st century.

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In December, the district announced that there's strong voter support for the bond measure based on results of a survey conducted Nov. 13 through Nov. 21, 2011 by EMC Research.

The survey showed as much as 66 percent of overall respondents would support placing such bond on the ballot, well above the 55 percent threshold needed for passage, Davis added.

Even as the district gets ready to embark this year on a $51 million construction upgrade at both colleges, trustees are saying many buildings are old and need to be replaced.

Some of those upgrades have been funded through a 2004 bond measure, whose monies are all spent.

However, West Valley College in Saratoga is undertaking a $10.6 million retrofit of its main classroom building, which is 40 years old.


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