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Published on 10/27/1999 All articles from this issue

Bonding Foothill, De Anza

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By Linda Taaffe

Town Crier Staff Writer

$248 million proposal would address facilities woes, officials say

Foothill College's Los Altos Hills campus has long been recognized nationwide for its architectural beauty, but district officials don't expect the community college to win any awards for its lush, green grass any time soon - unless Sunset Magazine adds a "Best Rooftop Grass" category.

Moss and grass poke up between the wooden shingles on nearly every campus building. Rain water floods lecture halls, pipes leak, concrete walk ways jiggle underfoot and rats have chewed the wiring so classroom clocks don't work.

The 42-year-old campus, which won the American Institute of Architects First Honor award and gained full accreditation when it first opened in 1961, hasn't been renovated since then. And district officials say the aging buildings are more than showing their age. They say the school is too small, out of date and beginning to affect the quality of education the district can offer.

"We are going to lose our position as a leader," said college president Bernadine Chuck Fong "We won't be able to compete if we don't have the facilities critical to support programs that didn't exist when the school was built."

Officials say state funding is inadequate, and Measure E, the $248 million bond measure on Tuesday's ballot, is the only way to sufficiently update, renovate and expand both campuses and maintain its academic reputation. About 86 percent of all students complete their courses, compared to the statewide average of 43 percent, Fong said.

Students say they have to dodge drips and buckets in the biology department's hallways during the rainy season, and their classes are sometimes canceled due to flooding.

"This is still a beautiful campus, but like anything, you need to take care of it," said student Irris Marashian, who first attended Foothill College 20 years ago. Marashian said she recently fell on campus when a walkway slab shifted and threw her off balance.

The problems don't stop there. Built to serve 3,500 students, Foothill's enrollment is currently more than 16,000 and includes night and weekend classes.

Dr. Karl Peter, director of the veterinarian technology program that operates out of a 20-plus-year-old portable building on the west side of the campus, said the demand for veterinarian technicians in the area is growing. But the department can't expand without gaining more physical space to accommodate more animals for more students to treat.

The district's De Anza campus, which is 32 years old, is facing similar problems. Every classroom is in use between 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and from 5 to 10 p.m., according to school officials. Administrators had to turn away more than 1,000 students this year due to a lack of space.

"Our demands always exceed our resources," said Chancellor Leo Chavez. He said the district uses about 7 to 11 percent of its annual budget, or about $11 million last year, for maintenance work at Foothill. Over the past four years, Foothill has managed to replace one-third of its deteriorating roofs, but the process has been slow and officials say the district will not be able to catch up to its needs without a bond.

Data show that the district ranks at the bottom in the nation for funding, receiving about $3,400 per full-time student compared to the national average of $6,100. The state funds up to 3,200 full-time students. The district, which serves the largest number of students in Santa Clara County, exceeded that cap last year with more than 29,000 full-time students. Approximately 40,000 students take classes at the district.

If passed, the bond will enable the district to proceed with the construction of its science complex, expand Foothill's campus center, renovate the old Space Science Center to house the Foothill College Center for Innovation and Teaching Academy, add a district-wide technology support facility, renovate and repair classrooms and science lab roofs, heating and air-conditioning systems, plumbing and improvements to increase handicapped access and build about 15 new classrooms and add about 20,000 square-feet of new building space to Foothill's existing 49-building campus.

Facilities

The district began studying its facilities and educational needs six years ago, reviewing all of its programs and examining local work force needs, Fong said.

The study revealed that there is a shortfall of classroom space and adequate facilities to handle new programs.

Updated demographic reports show that the space crunch will only worsen. Enrollment at state community colleges is expected to grow from 1.4 million to 1.85 million by 2005. Foothill reported a 7 percent increase in enrollment this year.

The study identified about 73 renovation projects on Foothill's 122-acre campus, including work on auditoriums, classrooms, science labs, horticulture buildings, music rooms, gymnasiums, the bookstore and the astronomy observatory, as well as new construction and infrastructure projects.

Some of these problems "seem like simple things to fix, but they're not an easy problem to solve," Fong said. She said the way students learn has changed since the school first opened. Things such as air conditioning wasn't needed at that time, but with the addition of computers, which generate heat, air conditioning is now a problem.

Funding

The master plan for both De Anza and Foothill will cost about $350 million and will take about 10 years to complete, according to district officials. If Measure E passes with the needed two-thirds majority vote, the district will use the $248 million bond to fund projects specific to education. This means child care, parking lot, theater arts and athletic projects will be funded by other sources, not bond money.

The district would spend Measure E funds as follows: $84 million in districtwide classroom renovations; $64.7 million for districtwide repair and maintenance work; and $104.6 million for new construction.

Under state law, the district is allowed to ask for 1.25 percent of its assessed valuation in bonds. The district's bonding capacity in July 1997 was about $512.1 million, according to district officials.

Chavez said the district is asking the public to fund only its most pressing needs.

The bond, if approved, will cost the approximately 200,000 district taxpayers living in Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto and parts of Saratoga and San Jose, approximately $14 per $100,000 in assessed valuation.

The annual cost for the average homeowner should be less than $100 ... "less than the cost of dinner and a night at the movies," Chavez said.

Chavez said the bond would also enable the district to apply for more annual state matching funds, getting as much as $3 for every $1.

Residents opposing the bond issue say Measure E is too vague, and the district has failed to document specifically how the money will be spent. They say the bond could cost property owners as much as $3,000 each to repay the bonds.

"Measure E appears to be a monumental rip-off with the projects and figures totaling $248 million simply concocted," said Libertarian Marvin Rudin of Sunnyvale in a letter to the editor.

District officials say they believe there's a lot of support in the community for the bond.

"Education is high on the agenda right now," Chavez said. "...We're ready."