League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Santa Clara County, CA November 2, 2010 Election
	Measure G Bonds San Jose/Evergreen Community College District Bond Issue - 55% Approval Required Pass: 111,032 / 58.81% Yes votes ...... 77,759 / 41.19% No votes See Also: Index of all Measures

Arguments For Measure G

Arguments Against Measure G

Every year over 25,000 local college students turn to San Jose City College and Evergreen Valley College for a high quality affordable education to prepare for good paying jobs or transfer to 4-year colleges and universities. Much of our local workforce is trained or retrained at one of these colleges. Both colleges are in high demand and serving students at full capacity. But despite ongoing maintenance and facility improvements, they cannot fully accommodate the education and training that students need and the job market requires. Measure G will complete the rehabilitation of our colleges, and add classrooms, equipment and instructional support space to keep pace with advancing technology and changing workforce demands. Measure G will: Upgrade computer, science, and allied health labs Renovate math, science, and core academic classrooms Modernize job-training and career-technical education classrooms and facilities Upgrade deteriorated roofs, electrical, plumbing, heating, and ventilation Improve energy efficiency and reinvest the savings back into instruction Create a job-training Center For Environmental Sciences and Green Technology Improve campus safety/security systems Strict financial controls and accountability are REQUIRED. NO money is allowed for administrator salaries. By law, Measure G ONLY funds facility upgrades and equipment. Annual audits and Independent Citizens' Oversight will ensure proper spending. Measure G will qualify our colleges for State matching funds when they become available, leveraging taxpayer dollars even further. As facilities are improved, our local economy will also get a needed boost. ALL Measure G funds will stay local to benefit Evergreen Valley College and San Jose City College. By law, the State cannot take these funds away. Educators, public safety providers, civic and business leaders, and citizens throughout San Jose urge your support. Help ensure that San Jose community college and job-training facilities remain strong. Please VOTE YES on Measure G. /s/ Richard Regua 38-year English Instructor, SJCC /s/ Susan W. Hammer Former Mayor, City of San Jose /s/ Jim Cunneen Former Assemblyman and Business Leader /s/ Hermelinda Sapien CEO, San Jose Center for Employment Training /s/ Michael M. Honda Congressman Rebuttal to Arguments For Measure G asks for our money to be given to people with a history of wasting taxpayer dollars. The College District has no financial credibility as they have ignored independent investigations and their own highly paid consultants. They ask for more of our hard earned dollars in hopes that we will trust them to make it work. We must learn, however, from their recent mistakes and Vote NO on G. This Bond includes remodeling recently completed buildings and proposals to construct projects promised in previous bonds. The District's history of changing priorities after they get our money has resulted in incomplete, illegally initiated and mismanaged projects. Milpitas taxpayers have been promised and have been paying for satellite facilities for years, with no results. New construction projects, that provide new services, cannot be considered until the multi-year environmental master planning process is completed. The District presents a generalized wish list that lacks the specifics of tangible projects. The District wants to speculate with our hard earned money as they propose to establish a "technology endowment". According to District officials, the bond proceeds will be used to buy Municipal Bonds that will be the source for unregulated expenditures. This entire proposal lacks adequate public oversight and District accountability. Vote NO on G. You cannot afford to let this District waste any more money. Visit http://www.GNO2010.com for more details. Your No on G vote tells the District to bring its financial house in order and put Education and Students First. /s/ Charlotte B. Powers Former San Jose City Council Member /s/ Danny E. Hawkins SJECCD Classified Employee /s/ Jeffrey B. Lease Concerned Parent /s/ Douglas A. McNea President, Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association /s/ Stephen L. Kline President, Burbank/Del Monte NAC

It is with heavy hearts that we oppose Measure G. The San Jose Evergreen Community College District (SJECCD) is a financial disaster. The San Jose Mercury News has said that their fiscal credibility on a scale of 1 to 10 is zero. Our trust has been lost. As Channel 7 and the Mercury News released reports of fiscal mismanagement, the former Chancellor took a medical leave and retired. SJECCD searched nationwide for a new Chancellor. They hired a highly qualified educator who spent her first three weeks researching this bond's feasibility. Her recommendation was to postpone this election until 2012. At her first meeting as the new Chancellor, the Board ignored her independent objective opinion and authorized this costly election. Past experience demonstrates that there is no responsible citizen oversight. A current Citizens Bond Oversight Committee member commented that she is not given enough information to tell her neighbors about the past bond's expenditures. As our watchdogs, they are prohibited from asking how and why the money is being spent. Because of the Board's inadequate oversight, the District is financially out of control. They have wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on ill-conceived projects, credit card misuse, lavish expenses and trips, high paid consultants, cost overruns, and attorney's fees. Visit http://www.GNO2010.com for details. Right now, money is hard to come by. As taxpayers struggling to make ends meet, we cannot continue to feed the District's irresponsible financial mismanagement. We must have proof that educational dollars are being spent wisely and efficiently before approving another bond. Please vote NO on G. Our taxes are a terrible thing to waste. Your No on G vote tells SJECCD to put its financial house in order and to put Education and Students First. /s/ Michael G. LaRocca President, Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Association /s/ Danny E. Hawkins SJECCD Classified Employee /s/ Stephen L. Kline President, Burbank/Del Monte NAC /s/ Jeffrey B. Lease Concerned Parent Rebuttal to Arguments Against As the new chancellor of San Jose Evergreen Community College District I would like to clear up misstatements made in the Argument against Measure G. I support Measure G wholeheartedly. Measure G is about one thing: making sure our community has adequate college education and workforce training facilities. FACT: Because college education has become so expensive, more people in our community are relying on community colleges for some or all of their education and training. Measure G will help local students obtain an affordable, high quality education they might not otherwise receive. FACT: Taxpayer protections are MANDATORY. NO money is allowed for administrator salaries, ONLY facility upgrades and equipment. Annual financial audits, Independent Citizens' Oversight, and reports to the community will ensure transparency and proper spending as voters and taxpayers intended. FACT: Measure G will help our colleges remain competitive and help our community qualify for State and Federal matching funds when they become available, leveraging taxpayer dollars even further. FACT: Modernizing our local colleges and upgrading technology will cost less now than in the future. The longer we wait, the more expensive it will be. Measure G will create local jobs and provide a desperately needed economic boost to our local economy. FACT: All money raised by Measure G stays in our community. Don't be persuaded by special interests distorting the facts. Measure G is a responsible proposal and a good investment to ensure high quality community college facilities for years to come. Please VOTE YES on G. /s/ Rita M. Cepeda Chancellor, San Jose/Evergreen Community College District /s/ Carl Guardino President & CEO, Silicon Valley Leadership Group /s/ Rose Amador President, San Jose Center for Training Careers /s/ Karl N. Black Superintendent, Milpitas Unified School District /s/ Jim Beall Jr. Assemblyman, 24th District

Tax Rate Statement from the Chancellor

An election will be held in the San Jose - Evergreen Community College District (the "District") on November 2, 2010, for the purpose of submitting to the electors of the District the question of incurring a bonded indebtedness of the District in a principal amount not to exceed $268 million. If such bonds are authorized and sold, the principal thereof and interest thereon will be payable from the proceeds of tax levies made upon the taxable property in the District. The following information regarding tax rates is given to comply with Section 9401 of the California Elections Code. Such information is based upon the best estimates and projections presently available from official sources, upon experience with the District, and other demonstrable factors. Based upon the foregoing and projections of the District's assessed valuation, and assuming the entire debt service will be paid through property taxation: 1. The best estimate of the tax rate that would be required to be levied to fund the bond issue during the first fiscal year after the sale of the first series of bonds based on estimated assessed valuations available at the time of filing of this statement is 0.960 cents per $100 of assessed valuation (or $9.60 per $100,000 of assessed valuation) for fiscal year 2011-12. 2. The best estimate of the tax rate that would be required to be levied to fund the bond issue during the first fiscal year after the sale of the last series of bonds based on estimated assessed valuations available at the time of filing of this statement is 0.960 cents per $100 of assessed valuation (or $9.60 per $100,000 of assessed valuation) for fiscal year 2020-21. 3. The best estimate of the highest tax rate that would be required to be levied to fund the bond issue, and an estimate of the years in which that rate will apply, based on estimated assessed valuations available at the time of the filing of this statement is again 0.960 cents per $100 of assessed valuation (or $9.60 per $100,000 of assessed valuation), which is projected to be the same in every fiscal year that the bonds remain outstanding. Attention to all voters is directed to the fact that the foregoing information is based upon projections and estimates only, which are not binding upon the District. The actual timing of bond sales and the amount of bonds sold at any given time will be governed by the needs of the District, the state of the bond market, and other factors. The actual interest rates on any bonds sold will depend upon market conditions and other factors at the time of sale. The actual assessed valuations in future years will depend upon the value of property within the District as determined in the assessment and equalization process. Therefore, the actual tax rates and the years in which such rates are applicable may vary from those presently estimated as stated above. /s/ Dr. Rita Cepeda Chancellor San Jose - Evergreen Community College District

Full Text of Measure G

PROJECTS The Board of Trustees of the San Jose Evergreen Community College District, to be responsive to the needs of students and the community, evaluated the District's urgent and critical educational needs, including completing essential repairs to aging classrooms and college buildings to today's health, fire and earthquake safety requirements, and providing sufficient classrooms and science labs to offer more medical job training and workforce development courses and programs to students, the energy efficiency of all facilities, safety and security issues, class size reduction, class size and offerings in key disciplines such as nursing, health sciences, solar and clean technology fields, and information and computer technology, in developing the scope of projects to be funded, as outlined in the San Jose City College Educational/Facilities Master Plan 2010-2025 and the Evergreen Valley College Educational/Facilities Master Plan 2010-2025 (together, the "Master Plan"), approved by the Board of Trustees on June 8, 2010, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In developing the scope of projects, the District has prioritized the key health and safety needs so that the most critical needs and the most urgent and basic needs and infrastructure repairs are addressed consistent with community and District priorities. The Board conducted comprehensive facility evaluations and considered community and District perspectives in developing the scope of college projects to be funded, as described in the Master Plan. The Board, faculty and community leaders concluded that if these needs were not addressed now, the problem will only become more pressing and expensive. In implementing the Master Plan, the Board of Trustees determines that San Jose City College and Evergreen Valley College must: Upgrade labs for science and medical training programs. Provide classrooms for math, science, writing, and other core academic classes. Update classrooms and facilities for improved job training and career technical education. Update classrooms and educational facilities to meet current fire and safety codes and provide access for students with disabilities. Upgrade facilities to improve energy efficiency and reduce operating expenses, allowing more funding for classroom instruction and student services. Establish a technology endowment to maintain up-to-date computer learning necessary for a 21st Century education. The Master Plan is available for review on-line at www.sjeccd.edu; www.evc.edu; and http://www.sjcc.edu. and includes the type of projects listed below. Repair Projects To Provide Affordable Access for Transferring Students and Reduce Operating Expenses To Restore Funding to Classroom Instruction Goal and Purpose: Since the costs to attend a State or UC college in California continue to increase and are as much as 10 times more expensive than either San Jose City College or Evergreen Valley College, and with fewer and fewer students able to afford the State or UC systems, upgrading San Jose City College and Evergreen Valley College will make sure that the community has high quality, affordable college options for local student transferring to four-year colleges: Update labs for science and medical training programs. Replace existing plumbing and sewer systems to prevent flooding and water damage and reduce future maintenance costs. Repair and renovate classrooms and facilities that lack adequate heating, ventilation, air conditioning, electrical and lighting systems to make them more energy efficient. Upgrade utility infrastructure such as electric, sewer and gas systems to improve energy efficiency, reduce energy costs and power generation. Repair, upgrade and replace worn-out roofs. Repair aging classrooms. Replace existing wiring systems to meet current electrical and accessibility codes and increase capacity. Install additional electrical service capacity to improve computer technology and Internet access. Upgrade, retrofit and equip classrooms, facilities, and educational support spaces. Upgrade classrooms and educational facilities to meet current fire safety codes and provide access for students with disabilities. Upgrade facilities to improve energy efficiency and reduce operating expenses, allowing more funding for classroom instruction and student services. Job Training; Health and Technology Projects Goal and Purpose: San Jose City College and Evergreen Valley College provide essential job training and workforce preparation for students of all ages. In today's economic times, these projects will allow the Colleges to continue offering local San Jose area residents training and education in the nursing, health sciences, and solar and clean energy technology fields: Provide classrooms for math, science, writing and other core academic classes. Upgrade earthquake safety for campus facilities and classrooms. Update classrooms and facilities for job training and career technical education. Provide and maintain up-to-date technology, data and communication equipment. Expand bandwidth to allow students greater access to the internet. Remodel Technology Center. Upgrade and expand telecommunications, internet and network connections. Upgrade and replace computers, hardware and software systems. Modernize classroom technology and computer labs. Upgrade and replace classroom instructional equipment. Upgrade existing applied science building complex. Construct new multi-disciplinary classroom buildings. Replace or upgrade outdated electrical systems. Upgrade library technology, internet access and research tools. Construct vocational technology building. Establish a Center for Environmental Sciences and Green Technology locally to prepare students for careers in these growing fields. Meeting the Demand for Local Affordable Access to Higher Education - Energy Efficiency and Health and Safety Projects Goal and Purpose: Due to the recession, demands for the Colleges' affordable classes are at an all-time high. Hundreds of students have been turned away because classes are overflowing. At the same time, budget cuts have forced at least a 5 percent reduction in the number of school classes. These projects will help meet current and future demands for affordable, accessible quality education: Energy Efficiency Returns Savings to the Classroom Install energy efficient systems, including solar power systems, to reduce energy/utility costs and return savings to educational programs. Replace existing window systems with energy efficient systems to reduce costs. Replace outdated inefficient heating and ventilation systems. Improve insulation, weather proofing and roofs to reduce costs. Student Safety Improve access for faculty, staff and students with disabilities. Install and repair fire safety equipment, including alarms, smoke detectors, sprinklers, emergency lighting, and fire safety doors. Inspect for/repair gas pipe leaks, replace broken concrete walks, deteriorated asphalt. Replace/upgrade existing signage, bells and clocks. Install new security systems, such as security (surveillance) cameras, outdoor lighting, fencing, gates and classroom door locks. Replace sewer lines and improve drainage systems to prevent flooding. Upgrade site parking, utilities and grounds. The listed projects will be completed as needed. Each project is assumed to include its share of furniture, equipment, architectural, engineering, and similar planning costs, program/project management, staff training expenses and a customary contingency for unforeseen design and construction costs. In addition to the listed projects stated above, the Project List also includes the acquisition of a variety of instructional, maintenance and operational equipment, including the reduction or retirement of outstanding lease obligations and interim funding incurred to advance fund projects from the Project List, payment of the costs of preparation of all facility planning, facility studies, assessment reviews, facility master plan preparation and updates, environmental studies (including environmental investigation, remediation and monitoring), design and construction documentation, and temporary housing of dislocated District activities caused by construction projects. In addition to the projects listed above, repair, renovation and construction projects may include, but not be limited to, some or all of the following: renovation of student and staff restrooms; landscaping; acquisition of land; construct maintenance and operations and physical education buildings; campus signage; repair and replacement of heating and ventilation systems; establish a capital improvement and deferred maintenance endowment; upgrade of facilities for energy efficiencies; repair and replacement of worn-out and leaky roofs, windows, walls, doors and drinking fountains; acquisition of vehicles; removal of outdated buildings and construction of new classrooms and support buildings; roadway improvements to promote better traffic circulation and student safety; renovation of locker rooms; installation wiring and electrical systems to safely accommodate computers, technology and other electrical devices and needs; repair and replacement of fire alarms, emergency communications and security systems; relocation of District administrative support facilities, including construction of such facilities; upgrading, resurfacing, replacing or relocating of hard courts, fields, turf and irrigation systems; construct or renovate athletic facilities, field lighting, gym/pool; upgrade classrooms; construct new parking lots or parking facilities; repair, upgrade and install interior and exterior lighting systems; replace water and sewer lines and other plumbing system; replace outdated security systems. The upgrading of technology infrastructure includes, but is not limited to, computers, LCD projectors, portable interface devices, servers, switches, routers, modules, sound projection systems, laser printers, digital white boards, document projectors, upgrade voice-over-IP, call manager and network security/firewall, and other wireless technology and miscellaneous equipment and educational and administrative software. Projects of the type described may also be conducted on one or several of the District's Education Centers or satellite campuses. The allocation of bond proceeds may be affected by the District's receipt of State matching funds and the final costs of each project. Some projects may be undertaken as joint use projects in cooperation with other local public or non-profit agencies. The budget for each project is an estimate and may be affected by factors beyond the District's control. The final cost of each project will be determined as plans and construction documents are finalized, construction bids are received, construction contracts are awarded and projects are completed. Based on the final costs of each project, certain of the projects described above may be delayed or may not be completed. Demolition of existing facilities and reconstruction of facilities scheduled for repair and upgrade may occur, if the Board determines that such an approach would be more cost-effective in creating more enhanced and operationally efficient campuses. Necessary site preparation/ restoration may occur in connection with new construction, renovation or remodeling, or installation or removal of relocatable classrooms, including ingress and egress, removing, replacing, or installing irrigation, utility lines, trees and landscaping, relocating fire access roads, traffic circulation improvements, and acquiring any necessary easements, licenses, or rights of way to the property. Proceeds of the bonds may be used to pay or reimburse the District for the cost of District staff when performing work on or necessary and incidental to bond projects. Bond proceeds shall only be expended for the specific purposes identified herein. The District shall create an account into which proceeds of the bonds shall be deposited and comply with the reporting requirements of Government Code § 53410. NO ADMINISTRATOR SALARIES. PROCEEDS FROM THE SALE OF THE BONDS AUTHORIZED BY THIS PROPOSITION SHALL BE USED ONLY FOR THE ACQUISITION, CONSTRUCTION, RECONSTRUCTION, REHABILITATION, OR REPLACEMENT OF SCHOOL FACILITIES, INCLUDING THE FURNISHING AND EQUIPPING OF SCHOOL FACILITIES, AND NOT FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE, INCLUDING TEACHER AND COLLEGE ADMINISTRATOR SALARIES, PENSIONS AND OTHER OPERATING EXPENSES. FISCAL ACCOUNTABILITY. THE EXPENDITURE OF BOND MONEY ON THESE PROJECTS IS SUBJECT TO STRINGENT FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY REQUIREMENTS. BY LAW, PERFORMANCE AND FINANCIAL AUDITS WILL BE PERFORMED ANNUALLY, AND ALL BOND EXPENDITURES WILL BE MONITORED BY AN INDEPENDENT CITIZENS' OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE TO ENSURE THAT FUNDS ARE SPENT AS PROMISED AND SPECIFIED. THE CITIZENS' OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MUST INCLUDE, AMONG OTHERS, REPRESENTATION OF A BONA FIDE TAXPAYERS ASSOCIATION, A BUSINESS ORGANIZATION AND A SENIOR CITIZENS ORGANIZATION. NO DISTRICT EMPLOYEES OR VENDORS ARE ALLOWED TO SERVE ON THE CITIZENS' OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE.