The Lone Star College System board of trustees called for a $485 million bond election at its Aug. 7 meeting to be placed on the ballot this November.



The money would be used to address a number of issues, including infrastructure, technology upgrades, building renovations and the further development of workforce programs, Chancellor Steve Head said.



"It's about access for students," he said. "We want to be up-to-date to make sure when students use our facilities for educational purposes, they are getting the best we can give them."



LSCS asked voters to approve a $497.7 million bond referendum May 2013, but the measure failed, only garnering 44.4 percent of the vote. Harris County residents favored the bond, but 71 percent of Montgomery County residents voted against.



This time around, college officials are going to do a better job of explaining to voters what the bond is and why it is needed, trustee Linda Good said.



"We were so close to the need and we understood it so well that we didn't do a good enough job of getting that in words that were easily understood and received by the public," she said. "We need to do a better job of educating about the need."



Specific projects officials hope to fund with the bond money include three different advanced workforce technology centers—one each for the North Harris and Cy-Fair campuses and one catering to students in the Humble/Atascocita area. The money would also fund expansions in the health care programs at the Kingwood and Tomball campuses.



Each workforce center would be strategically placed to meet workforce needs specific to each area, Head said. The center at Beltway 8 and Hwy. 59 would address the need for petrochemical workers, the Cy-Fair center would help expand the Computer Information Technology program and the North Harris center would provide space for the HVAC&R program.



"The way our economy is growing, there is a critical shortage of the workforce in a number of areas," Head said. "We know there is a great demand for us to address workforce issues in our community, so the sooner we get moving on that, the better off we're going to be."



Head also stressed the need for classroom expansion at various campuses as well as two new buildings for student services to keep up with the growth in enrollment. Enrollment has increased by more than 50 percent since 2008 and is now pushing 90,000. LSCS officials are projecting enrollment to surpass 96,000 by 2018.



Jon Bauman, vice president of the Texas Patriots PAC, spoke at the meeting on the PAC's concerns over the bond.



"This seems a little bit like corporate welfare," he said. "We're building and paying for facilities to educate people that will be employed by specific employers. We should be partnering with these people. We should be asking them to contribute to build the facilities, and we should be doing the education."



Head said it was crucial to move forward with the bond as soon as possible due to both enrollment growth and rising construction costs.



"Every year we delay, construction costs go up about 8–10 percent," he said. "When we lost the last election, it was the equivalent of about $80 million in lost opportunity for us. That's why we feel like we need to move."



The bond is not expected to require an increase in property taxes. Head said a recommendation will likely be made at the Sept. 4 meeting to adopt a net effective tax rate, which would lower the tax rate for 2014–15 in accordance with the increase in property values.



More specific details on the bond were not immediately available after the Aug. 7 meeting. Stay tuned to Community Impact for continued coverage as details are released.