More than a year after the Lone Star College System's nearly $500 million bond package failed to receive voter approval, the community college system may try to garner support for another bond referendum in November to help accommodate current and future growth in enrollment.

Ray Laughter, LSCS vice chancellor for external affairs, said the college and board of trustees are examining the repairs and renovations required at its campuses as well as what has changed since a master plan was devised for the 2013 bond referendum.

"We're aggressively going through our facility planning update," Laughter said. "I would expect we would do some deeper investigation over the next 30 days or so. Our board will have to make a decision by August."

The amount of a bond referendum in November is unknown as are the potential projects that could be funded by the referendum. However, there are still hundreds of millions of dollars in projects that have yet to be funded, which were included in the 2013 bond.

The 2013 bond referendum would have provided $497.7 million of funding for projects throughout LSCS but failed to receive voter approval by gaining only 44.4 percent of the nearly 18,800 votes. Laughter said low voter turnout and organized opposition in Montgomery County—where 71 percent of voters opposed the referendum—were probable factors that contributed to the referendum's defeat.

"If we held a [bond] election in November, the turnout would be much larger and we would do a better job of communicating our needs," Laughter said.

Had the 2013 bond referendum passed, LSC–Tomball would have received $102.2 million for improvement projects, which included new satellite centers, increased parking and campus renovations.

Despite the defeat of the 2013 bond referendum, LSC moved forward with some projects such as the construction of the Creekside campus using other available money. Laughter said the $36.3 million Creekside campus is funded through revenue bonds, which are bonds paid for by revenue generated through user fees, and is expected to be complete by fall 2016.

However, the college system does not have enough available funding to construct the projects needed to accommodate the growth it is experiencing and will continue to see, he said.

"We're going to have to try to figure out [another] way to get those projects built," Laughter said.

LSCS experienced 58 percent enrollment growth in the five years prior to the 2013 election and is on pace to have 110,000 students by 2018. Laughter said the college system already has 95,000 students and continues to see system-wide growth. He said enrollment is expected to increase as much as 11 percent in fall 2014 compared to fall 2013.

"We had a couple of semesters where we were fairly flat, but we're clearly growing again," Laughter said. "I don't think we're going to slow down and more people keep moving here."