Clackamas Community College may place $110 million bond on November ballot

Clackamas Community College is proposing putting a $110 to $120 million bond before voters in the November election.

“We are planting trees that we know we will never sit under,” said Tim Cook, CCC president, who recently spoke to the Estacada City Council about the improvements the bond would make in educating the community and workforce if voters approve.

The proposed bond would be a renewal of an expiring 2014 bond and would not raise taxes on property owners, he explained.

The potential bond will work toward three goals: preparing students for success in modern learning spaces; enhancing partner and community connections and preserving and maintaining assets, Cook said.

“It’s no surprise that education has changed dramatically over the last decade,” Cook told the Estacada City Council.

Students learn online and in hybrid ways so the bond might create small spaces where students can take an online class in quiet and privacy on campus, for example.

The bond would also create a “center for excellence” for the college’s horticulture, farming, welding and wildland fire programs, among other planned projects.

On partner and community connections, Cook said “community is our college’s middle name and we really take that seriously.”

The bond might upgrade athletic fields and add a grandstand and complete the popular Douglas Loop walking trail, which is used by the community. It also would fund construction on a workforce and apprenticeship building at the Wilsonville campus and support other programs.

Finally the bond would “preserve and maintain assets” which would include many needed repairs in the college’s aging buildings, upgrade technology and computer labs, increase energy efficiency and more projects.

CCC partners with school districts to offer dual credit college opportunities to high school students at their high schools at no cost.

Last year 43 Estacada high schoolers took 315 of these credits saving them $34,000 in tuition. CCC also offers an Estacada scholars program allowing 20 students to attend classes on the CCC campus.

Cook said “22% of our students are high school students … and I expect that to continue to grow.”

The bond will cost property owners 25 cents for every $1,000 of assessed property value.

CCC was able to get matches for almost 50% of the amount of the expiring 2014 bond and Cook said the college’s goal is to do the same with the potential $110-120 million November bond.

The proposed bond has its own web site at CCCBond.org for more information.

Clackamas Community College educates 19,857 students with an average age of 32. It offers 108 career technical programs, two-year transfer degrees and general equivalency diploma (GED) programs, adult high school, community education and business training.