Community colleges in the San Antonio area have unlocked nearly a billion dollars for facility upgrades and expansions. In a recent election, voters approved an Alamo Colleges District bond package totaling $987 million, with more than 77,000 people voting in favor of the bond—nearly 70% of the total vote tally.
The bond package is more than double the district’s previous 2017 request of $450 million, and it will fund massive expansion projects across the community college system as it prepares for significant growth. $535 million is allocated for new programs and facilities expansion. Another $247 million will go to critical infrastructure repairs, while $205 million is earmarked for multi-sector investments.
The bond package includes a proposed new $95 million school of nursing in the Medical Center, which would be part of San Antonio College. This represents the first Alamo Colleges campus in that area of town.
Other major allocations include:
- $25 million for an Architecture and Engineering school on the San Antonio College campus
- $65 million for the Center for Automotive Technology at St. Philip’s College
- $75 million for the School of Engineering at Northeast Lakeview College
- $95 million toward a science, engineering and technology building and an expansion of Northeast Lakeview College’s career and technical program
- $130 million for Northwest Vista College to expand its current campus and build a School of Emerging Technologies at Port San Antonio
With this new funding, the Alamo Colleges District positions itself to meet the educational and workforce development needs of San Antonio’s growing population over the next decade. The district is growing at twice the rate of population growth within the area. The expansions are essential for keeping up. Currently, the district has about 80,000 students, but that number is projected to rise to 100,000 or even as high as 127,000 students in 2030.
The bond targets key workforce gaps across multiple sectors, addressing regional demands in engineering, healthcare, IT and cybersecurity, emerging technologies, applied technology and construction trades, automotive technology and transportation. The bond will also fund four new locations: Port San Antonio, Brooks, the South Texas Medical Center and a new training center north of Loop 1604.
District officials have indicated that the bond will not require a tax rate increase because of projected growth in the property tax base and because they plan to issue bonds over several years. The bonds will be issued in multiple installments over several years, projected to result in no tax rate increase for Alamo Colleges District taxpayers.
Photo Courtesy Nightryder84 via Wikimedia Commons
