College district moves $344-million bond forward

Deirdre Newman

COSTA MESA -- A $344-million bond for facility improvements throughout

the Coast Community College District inched closer to reality Wednesday,

when trustees voted to continue pursuing the possibility.

The board unanimously agreed to launch a committee to explore the

viability of the multimillion-dollar bond.

The bond would fund a laundry list of improvements over a 20-year

period, such as updating wiring in old classrooms, and fixing boiler

rooms and heating and air conditioning systems that are breaking down,

said Erin Cohn, the district’s public affairs director.

Without the bond, the district would have to take a number and get in

line for state funding that may take a lot longer to procure, Cohn said.

The district is eligible for a little more than $1 million of a potential

$25 billion in statewide bonds that the Senate approved Thursday. Gov.

Gray Davis now must sign those bonds for the first one -- for $13 million

-- to make the November ballot.

Next week, George Brown and Armando Ruiz -- two district trustees on

the new committee -- will review the results of a survey that asked

likely voters how they felt about the district’s potential bond, Cohn

said.

Some of the questions from the March survey include what voters felt

were the biggest problems facing the community colleges in their area, if

they thought local community colleges had a need for funding, and if so

how great they perceived that funding to be. It also asked respondents if

an election were held today, would they support the bond?

The committee will make its recommendation to the full board sometime

this summer, Cohn said. To get the bond on the November ballot, a

decision must be made by August.

None of the five district trustees could be reached for comment

Thursday.

* Deirdre Newman covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 deirdre.newman@latimes.comf7 .

QUESTION

THE VERDICT?

Should the college district continue to pursue its $344-million

facilities bond? Call our Readers Hotline at (949) 642-6086 or send

e-mail to o7 dailypilot@latimes.comf7 . Please spell your name and

include your hometown and phone number, for verification purposes only.