ACCD News & Events

Bexar County Voters Approve ACCD's $450 Million Bond Proposal by a Healthy Margin

For Immediate Release
November 9, 2005
Contact: Kay Hendricks, Coordinator of Communication
(210) 208-8006
khendric@accd.edu

By a margin of 59.36% to 40.64%, Bexar County voters approved ACCD’s $450 million bond proposal to meet the needs of its growing enrollment.

“The passage of this bond election shows that when ACCD and the community work together, we can achieve significant progress toward the goal of a more educated population that will be of benefit to all residents,” said ACCD Board Chair Charles Conner.

The district’s enrollment has grown 41 percent in the last six years and reached an all-time high of 52,666 for the spring 2005 semester. It is projected to reach 68,800 by the year 2010.

The money will fund improvements at the district’s four colleges, as well as construction of a northeast college and information technology improvements. The proposed projects are:

• San Antonio College—$79 million for a new parking garage, academic complex and nursing and allied health complex, classroom reconstruction and expansion of the library

• St. Philip’s College—$67.5 million for a learning resources/distance learning/one-stop student center, renovations to the Sutton Learning Center and Science Building, a nursing and allied health complex, parking lots at the main campus and at the college’s Southwest Campus and a diesel lab building at Southwest Campus

• Palo Alto College—$55 million for new humanities and convocation center, a science and veterinary technology building, an auto manufacturing center of excellence, a one stop student and workforce center, an allied health career center, additional classrooms and conditioning facilities for health education and physical conditioning programs, classroom reconstruction and additional parking

• Northwest Vista College—$106 million for new academic complex, a theatre and fine arts building, a health, fitness and wellness complex, a child care development complex and an allied health and bioscience complex, plus expansions of the learning
center and College Commons, additional parking lots and a parking garage

• Northeast College—$125 million for construction of classrooms, a library and administration buildings on 238 acres the district owns at Loop 1604 and Kitty Hawk in northeast Bexar County

• Information Technology—$17.5 million for all colleges to provide for district-wide connectivity, wireless campuses, a cyber-information technology control center, distance learning systems resources, electronic communications systems and network and data security systems

The Citizens’ CIP Committee also called for the ACCD board to appoint an oversight committee of citizens to ensure that planned bond expenditures are approved and carried out in accordance with the provisions of the bond projects, as approved by the voters of Bexar County.

The proposed bond program amount of $450 million would result in an approximate $.03 increase in the district tax rate. For a Bexar County homeowner with a home appraisal of $100,000, the tax increase would be approximately $30 per year. Property owners who are older than 65 or disabled would not be affected by the increase.