More than a year after the Lone Star College System System's nearly $500 million bond referendum failed to meet voter approval, the community college system may try to get voter approval for another bond referendum in November.
Ray Laughter, vice chancellor for external affairs for LSCS, said the college and board of trustees are examining the repairs and renovations required at its seven campuses and to see 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. And our board will have to make a decision [on a possible bond referendum] by August. "
The 2013 bond 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 cast. Laughter said the low voter turnout and organized opposition in Montgomery County—where 71 percent of voters opposed the referendum—may have led to the referendum's failure.
"If we held an election in November, the turnout would be much larger and we would do a better job of communicating our needs," Laughter said.
LSCS could hold an election next May or November, but voter turnout could still be a concern, Laughter said, as even the November election in 2015 would lack significant national or statewide attention.
The 2013 referendum included $84.1 million for system-wide projects, $120 million for projects at LSC-North Harris, $102.2 million for LSC-Tomball, $59.3 million for LSC-University Park, $55 million for LSC-Cy Fair, $38.9 million for LSC-Montgomery and $38.2 million for LSC-Kingwood.
Some projects, including the Creekside campus south of The Woodlands, and the East Aldine Center near I-45 and Beltway 8, are being constructed despite the failure of the bond using other available money. However, the college system does not have the funding to construct all the projects required to accommodate its growth, Laughter said.
"The problem with the projects remaining from the 2013 bond election is construction costs have gone up so much with all the construction we have going up in the area," Laughter said. "We're going to have to try to figure out [another] way to get those projects built."
Prior to the 2013 bond election, LSCS had experienced 60 percent growth in the last five years and was on pace to have as many as 110,000 students by 2018. Laughter said LSCS already has as many as 95,000 students and continues to grow since the referendum's failure.
System-wide enrollment was up 3 percent in spring from spring last year while summer enrollment is up 7 percent and fall enrollment is on pace for an 11 percent increase, Laughter said.
"We had a couple of semesters where we were fairly flat, but we're clearly growing again," he said. "I don't think we're going to slow down, and more people keep moving here."
For more information on Lone Star College, visit www.lonestar.edu.
