RCCD Seeking $954M In Bonds With Measure CC

Voters in the Riverside Community College District (RCCD) are being asked whether or not to approve Measure CC, a $954 million bond package that will be used to expand the district's ability to serve its growing population of students.

"Riverside Community College District is a treasure for the people of Riverside County," RCCD Chancellor Wolde-Ab Isaac said in an interview with The Riverside Record. "We belong to the community, and we strive to serve as the economic engine for that community."

The project list is extensive and includes infrastructure upgrades for all district facilities, program expansions at Norco College, Moreno Valley College, Riverside City College and the Ben Clark Training Center as well as the construction of two new facilities — the Inland Empire Technical Trade Center in Jurupa Valley and the Corona Education Center in Corona.

"Every plan that we have is grounded on principles of equity and social justice," Isaac said. "We want to eliminate poverty. We want to create social and economic mobility."

In order to realize all of the plans, Isaac said RCCD is hoping to leverage Measure CC bonds to secure an additional roughly $400 million from the state if Proposition 2 , the state school bond measure, passes, bringing the total funding available to roughly $1.3 billion.

"If Prop 2 doesn't pass, then we will not get this additional $400 million, and therefore we'll scale back our ambition in terms of what we can," he said. "But we will build many of the projects within those, they are just about $1 billion so we'll be able to do most of what we want, but we would leverage for a lot more resources to even expand more if Prop 2 also passes."

Voters previously approved Measure C, a $350 million bond package, in March 2004 that allowed the district to grow dramatically over the last 20 years.

"We used to be one college with two campuses, and with that money, we now have three accredited colleges at Norco, Moreno Valley and Riverside," Isaac said. "Our students grew from something like 35,000 to almost 60,000, which is over 70% growth, and we've built quite a number of buildings — the two campuses are almost built [entirely] with Measure C [funding]."

But now, Isaac said those funds have been used, and, like K-12 schools , the only way for RCCD to continue to grow with its student population is to go out for another bond measure.

"Community colleges are funded in a similar way to the K-12, except that we are funded at a much lower level than the K-12, nearly 40% less money per student," Isaac said. "And then, when we want to build buildings for facilities, we have to get money in a separate way from a combination of state bonds and local bonds, and if we don't have our matching fund to the state, we don't get any money at all."

When it comes to property taxes, RCCD is asking voters to approve a tax rate of up to $19 per $100,000 of assessed value throughout the lifetime of the bonds. For a home with an assessed value of $500,000, that comes out to roughly $95 per year, an investment that Isaac said has outsized benefits for the region.

According to Isaac, RCCD has an economic impact of nearly $950 million per year in Riverside County, which translates to approximately 14,000 jobs.

"The return on investment to the ordinary taxpayer is for every dollar they invest, the return is $3 ... and for every dollar [students] invest, the return is $6," he said. "So we believe it's the best [way] for the community to help us grow and transform our communities into more prosperous, more safe and more healthy communities."

And while there is some opposition, a group of community members submitted an argument against the ballot measure that appears in the Riverside County voter information guide, Isaac said the support for the measure has been robust and includes the mayors of the seven cities served by the district — Corona, Eastvale, Jurupa Valley, Moreno Valley, Norco, Perris and Riverside — the K-12 school districts that serve those communities, labor unions, first responders, chambers of commerce and more.

"People truly appreciate what this means for themselves and for their children," he said. "The issue now is that they need to vote."