College Leaders Urge Support For Bond Program
Voters To Decide $250 Million Issue On Dec. 13
Last updated Monday, November 28, 2005 2:56 PM CST in News
By Jeff Smith
The Morning News
Northwest Arkansas college leaders said a higher education bond program will provide their campuses with much-needed money for facilities.
Arkansas voters will decide the fate of the $250 million bond issue Dec. 13.
Referred Question No. 2 would refinance existing bonds and provide $150 million for college facilities and technology. The vote would renew the bond program that Arkansas voters approved in 1990.
Referred Question No. 1, also on the Dec. 13 ballot, would allow the extension of the $575 million highway program that voters approved in 1999, which repaired more than 380 miles of interstate in the state.
The higher education bond program would require voter approval to issue bonds again, unlike the highway bond program, which would authorize the Arkansas Highway Commission to issue additional bonds in the future without a public vote.
Amendment 20 requires public approval for the state to incur debt.
Building BondsM
"This is the first attempt since the college savings bond program ... for us to have a statewide initiative to address the critical facility and infrastructure needs of our campuses," said University of Arkansas Chancellor John White.
"That benefited the state greatly, but now it's been more than 10 years since that and in the meantime enrollment has grown dramatically across the state," he said.
More than 141,600 students enrolled at Arkansas colleges and universities this fall, a 16.4 percent increase from the 121,600 enrolled in fall 2001.
The University of Arkansas would use the $16 million received from the bond money to help pay for a nanotechnology and nanoscience building for its Fayetteville campus. Officials estimate the building would cost $38 million.
"We dare not be left out of (nanoscience), so we feel it's critically important for us to take our opportunity for some state funds for capital needs and invest in that particular area," White said.
He said the university has few alternatives to pay for new buildings. The university raised $296 million for infrastructure during the recently completed $1.046 billion Campaign for the Twenty-First Century.
"We shouldn't be asking the students (through tuition) to be bearing the cost of building these academic buildings. I think that is the responsibility of the state," White said.
He said taxpayers will have to fund campus buildings either through bonds or through state appropriations to colleges and universities.
"What this is asking is the amount the taxpayers have been paying ... just continue to maintain that," White said. The state pays $24 million a year in interest on the bonds.
The higher education bonds will also be good for NorthWest Arkansas Community College, said Becky Paneitz, president of the Bentonville-based college. College officials support the effort, which would give the school $4 million.
"We encourage people to take a look at the issues and go vote," Paneitz said.
The college would spend the money on upgrading technology and renovating Burns Hall, the main campus building. Approximately $1.7 million would go to improve technology infrastructure. Part of the money would be used to outfit 20 classrooms to allow instructors to use the latest technology, Paneitz said.
The other project would involve spending $2.29 million to renovate Burns Hall. The work includes expanding the existing library and adding four classrooms.
Plans also are to replace some of the exterior finish on the south side of the building with brick, Paneitz said. She said, if the $4 million isn't received by the college, officials are not certain how they would pay for the projects.
"We just don't have a funding strategy for it," she said.
Previous Payments
Richard Hudson, the University of Arkansas' chief lobbyist, said he is concerned that the controversy over the highway bond program could decrease the vote for higher education bonds. He said voters in special elections might know a question is controversial but not remember which one and thus vote against both.
The highway bond program will not require voter approval again and the Arkansas trucking industry strongly opposes the measure. The group supports the higher education bond issue.
Hudson said he's not heard much opposition to the higher education bond program, although last week the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union opposed the measure. The group represents 400 state and local government employees.
"This is by far the most responsible approach to try to address the critical needs of the two- and four-year institutions in terms of their facilities," White said.
He said state higher education leaders trimmed their list of needs to fit the existing bond program. Two-thirds of the new money would go to the four-year universities and $50 million to the community colleges.
"There was such a high level of discipline brought to the process," he said. "I would have preferred to see a bond request that was four times the size of this so we could really go out and address the critical facility needs across the state."
About $10 million of the $100 million for the universities will go to connect them to the e-Corridor, a broadband connection up to 10,000 times faster than most computer connections.
Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who called for the bond elections and strongly supports both, provided the University of Arkansas money in his general improvement funds this year to connect to the e-Corridor through Tulsa.
The university has not yet connected to the fiber optic cable, said Don Pederson, vice chancellor for finance and administration. The other universities in the state will receive funding through the bond program to connect to the Fayetteville campus.
Hudson said the college bond program is about the only major source of capital funding that colleges and universities have received in several years.
Higher education used to receive money for buildings in state legislators' general improvement funds, but the last time the University of Arkansas received those funds for new construction was during the 1990-1991 school year, Hudson said.
"Throughout the '90s, we were entirely dependent on the college savings bond program," Hudson said.
Bond money helped renovate the chemistry and science engineering buildings on the Fayetteville campus while aiding the addition to David W. Mullins Library. Money from the bond program also went to maintenance of seven other buildings and to pay for academic equipment and library holdings.
"If this (bond money) passes us by, it's going to really set us back in terms of facility needs," White said.
The Morning News' Sharla Bardin contributed to this report.
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