Districts attempts to reignite the lost bond measure
After missing their previous deadline last year, the district is planning again to get the approval from the Santa Ana taxpayers of $680 million that would go to much needed repairs for their campuses.
In the areas of Rancho Santiago Community College District, a survey was conducted to see how the community would feel about the RSCCD to push for a bond. The results of the survey were later presented to the Board of Trustees. It gave them an insight on how the community feels about a bond.
More than half of registered voters were in approval for a bond to be placed on the 2024 ballot.
“Despite us only being in November, a measure for RSCCD is viable for planning forward and with the 55% of approval this would put the district on the right track to get it on the ballot,” said consultant Adam Sonenshein, who works with the FM3 that conducted the survey for the district.
Santa Ana College, Santiago Canyon College, and Centennial Education Center are the campuses that are in a much need of repairs.
This would cost the local homeowners about $9 per month. In other areas, this would seem like a low number to be used for the bond. This could be due to inflation or other things that affect the property tax.
“I saw that in the bond repairs are once again very popular and it scored pretty highly, said Board of Trustee member Phillip Yarbrough, from Area 6.
Being in the early stages, the district has high hopes of getting the bond approved and put on the November 2024 election ballot.
Some parts of the district believe that focusing more on the community will get them more support.
Trustees suggested more public facing events for vocational and CTE students to showcase that they are career ready. Like doing health check ups or other things they have learned.
“I want to bring awareness to the community so they can see what we can achieve so that everyone could benefit from this bond tax.” said Board of Trustee member Tina Arias Miller from Area 7.
Last year, they were given a deadline on July 6, by the Orange County Registrar of Voters, but it was too late because they didn’t give the Orange County Registrar of Voters enough time to provide that information to the people who were going to get affected by it.
At CEC, outdated classrooms reveal stained walls and an old struggling fan trying to keep Santa Ana College’s non-credit students cool. The 40 year old buildings there have paint chipping away on a hot, sunny day.
Besides CEC needing repairs, SAC and SCC also need to repair and replace aging structures they have on campus. Most of the buildings at SAC are about 50 years old or more. They aren’t up-to-date facilities.
“The results are pretty good given the fact that we haven’t launched a full marketing campaign,” said Chancellor Marvin Martinez. “Once the people know who we are, they would provide much more support.”
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