Bonds for Higher Education Also on the Ballot in Proposition 121

In addition to the $800-million bond issue for public schools, voters will be asked to approve Proposition 121--$450 million in bonds for higher education construction--in the June 5 primary.

The money would be divided about equally among the University of California, the California State University system and the state’s community colleges, and would be used for everything from replacing the electrical system at UC Riverside to building an $8.4-million addition to the library at Cal State Long Beach.

“These funds are critical to enable us to meet our projected enrollment growth, to build state-of-the-art laboratories and to improve our earthquake resistance,” said William B. Baker, UC’s vice president for public affairs.

The state university would use the money to try to keep pace with an enrollment that is expected to grow from the current 365,000 students to 540,000 by the year 2005, said Jack Smart, vice chancellor for university affairs at Cal State.

Ann Reed, vice chancellor for public affairs in the statewide community college system, said its share of the money would be used to finance 106 separate projects.

With the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, “funding for maintenance, master planning and many other things came to an abrupt halt,” Reed said, “so not only are we building for growth but we’ve had to make up for a decade of inactivity” at many of the 107 colleges in the system.

The California Postsecondary Education Commission, which advises the governor and the Legislature on higher education policy, has predicted an enrollment increase of about 700,000 students in the three segments by 2005.

The commission’s Bruce Hamlett said the $450-million bond issue would enable UC, Cal State and the community colleges to maintain a “steady state” for the next few years, with no money for growth.

About $500 million a year in new money for the next 15 years would be needed to finance the expected enrollment increases, Hamlett said.