PVCC Puma Press: October 2004

The Maricopa County Community College District is asking voters to approve a $951,359,000 bond on the ballot this November under the title of Proposition 401.
The bond, placed on the ballot just as funds from the 1994 bond run out, will bring millions of dollars into the PVCC coffers for improvements including new buildings and renovations. PVCC, the fastest growing campus in the district is expected to grow from almost 8,600 this fall, to 15,000 by 2014. The District is expected to reach an enrollment of 400,000 by the same year, from 113,277 this fall.

“That’s why we need the bond; we’re having a space crisis all over the place,” says MCCCD Governing Board President Linda Rosenthal. The average square footage per full-time student equivalent (FTSE) in the district, or per the number of students averaging 15 credits, is 100 square feet per FTSE.

Currently, the ration at PVCC is 69 square feet per FTSE, according to PVCC Dean of Administrative Services Jane Saldaña-Tally. The bond will not change that number, but will merely allow PVCC to maintain the figure.

If the bond passes, according to bond information packets released by the District, PVCC will receive more than $72 million for the following:

63,000 sq. ft. of new or renovated classrooms, labs and equipment,
a new classroom building with computer labs and lecture halls,
a new life science lab building,
renovating space for a new Physical Science and Applied Justice Studies lab, classrooms and an expanded library and computer commons area,
a new Multi Purpose center including classrooms, labs and a gymnasium,
an expanded and remodeled Student Center with additional dining facilities,
expanded student services,
a larger child development center,
a safer pedestrian mall and relocated and expanded campus roadways,
improved technological support, emergency communications and data networks,

Bond money would also be allocated from the $72 million to a new PVCC campus to be developed at 56th Street and the Carefree Highway with 25,000 sq. ft. of general-purpose classrooms, labs and student services space.

Arlen M. Solochek, A/A, acting Director of Facilities Planning and Development for the District, says, “In total, PVCC has over $84 million in expenditures projected for the next 10 years.” His figure includes the $72 million mentioned above, plus $12 million that will be allocated from “undivided funds” by the District for multiple purposes.

Saldaña-Talley says that one highlight of Proposition 401 for PVCC will be the improved roadways on campus, which will bring 580 new parking spaces. She also cites the PVCC North campus as a selling point, providing expanded services to residents of the far North Valley. PVCC is one of the only colleges in the District that does not yet have a second campus.

Solochek says the 1994 bond amounted to about $24.6 million in total expenditures for PVCC. Included in those expenditures were the M building, which added 44 classrooms and 60 faculty offices, renovations to the H Building, additions to the Gina Kranitz Student Center (formally the B Building) and other facilities on campus.

MCCCD Chancellor Dr. Rufus Glasper says Proposition 401 is necessary to keep the District competitive in job training. “MCCD is the biggest career training institution in the state,” Glasper says. He says the bond will be necessary for to compensate growth and technology.

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‘It is possible that without the bond that we would de facto turn away students...’
—Arlen Solochek MCCCD Director Facilities Planning
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District employees must campaign for the bond on their own time because there are laws against using District resources or time to campaign for a ballot issue. On District time they may only inform.

Glasper has two cell phones. “One (of the phones) is for District business,” he says. “The other is for bond business....”

Glasper admits the laws regarding campaigning can be stringent, but he says, “If they weren’t there someone would use it to their advantage.”

Glasper is willing to be available in a campaign that costs around $1 million dollars. He says it is difficult to organize people, money and efforts to wage an effective campaign.
PVCC President Dr. Mary K. Kickels says she, too, will educate people about the bond. “I will have an indirect role of seeing to it that as many people as I meet between now and Nov. 2 know the importance of voting ‘yes.’”

Rosenthal says a key group to appeal to for passing the bond will be the students who will vote this November because of their numbers and the roles they play in their communities as leaders.

If Proposition 401 does pass, construction will not start until 2007 because of preparations and the allocation schedule of bond funds. Rosenthal says that PVCC will have to handle an already present space problem “as best we can, with innovative scheduling, with Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday classes.”

Solochek says it would be much worse if the bond doesn’t pass. “It is possible that without the bond that we would de facto turn away students, not because we would not admit them, but because there would be no space for a sufficient number of class offerings to serve them,” Solochek says.

Glasper says, “Our resolve isn’t allowing us to consider that possibility right now.”
If Proposition 401 passes, construction of the PVCC North facility will be finished in late 2014.