Austin, TX – The Austin Community College Board of Trustees voted today to call an election on May 7, 2005, to annex territory within the City of Austin not already in the ACC taxing district.

With the annexation, access to quality higher education would become significantly less expensive for thousands of current and prospective students who would gain equal access to in-district tuition ─ less than half the tuition rates charged students from outside the district. A typical, three-credit-hour course with no lab fees costs an in-district student $159, compared to $333 for an out-of-district student – a difference of $174.

“All residents of the City of Austin have a stake in the quality, value, and positive community impact ACC provides,” said Dr. Barbara Mink, chair of the ACC Board. “This annexation will more fairly distribute the ACC tax burden throughout the City of Austin and concurrently increase affordable access to a unique educational asset.”

The annexation would increase net revenue to the ACC district by $6.46 million annually.

“The added revenue will help minimize future tuition increases, expand programs we are not able to grow now, and enhance the access and affordability essential to the state’s goal of increasing higher education enrollment by a half-million students in the next decade, with the majority of them starting in community college,” said Dr. Stephen Kinslow, ACC executive vice president of academic, student, and campus affairs.

The proposed annexation would increase the population of ACC’s taxing district by approximately 10 percent through annexation of 38 percent of Eanes ISD, 31 percent of Pflugerville ISD and 25 percent of Round Rock ISD.

“Additionally, this annexation will help ACC continue its role as Austin’s primary workforce trainer, and re-trainer, helping sustain high-demand programs critical to the City of Austin, including nursing, emergency services, and social services,” Kinslow said.

ACC’s taxing district currently comprises the Austin, Del Valle, Manor and Leander school districts. However, ACC is heavily used by students who live inside the City of Austin but are not residents of the ACC taxing district. Under state law, those students – primarily from the Pflugerville, Round Rock, and Eanes districts ─ have to pay a much higher out-of-district tuition.

ACC’s maintenance and operations tax rate is capped at 9 cents per $100 assessed property valuation – well below the average of community college tax rates in the state — and cannot be increased without voter approval. Additionally, voters in 2003 approved a 1 cent tax to retire general obligation bonds for facilities improvements.

Additional information about the annexation election is available online at .