Throughout ACC’s early history, student enrollment had grown steadily and at times spectacularly, despite assertions by political opponents, made mostly during tax- and bond-election campaigns, that Austin did not really need a community college. They created an urban myth that ACC students were actually rich University of Texas kids who co-enrolled to meet freshman-level degree requirements at student-friendly ACC and then transferred those credits to U.T. The reality, however, was that phenomenal growth in community-college enrollments could be seen throughout the country, including Austin. Indeed, in “Y2K,” a reference to “the year 2000,” 70 percent of all freshman and sophomore students in Texas higher-ed were enrolled in two-year colleges. Cities and their local community colleges were being asked to provide expensive job training that matched the demands of expensive, high-tech, industry. As communities like Austin and funding agencies like the Texas legislature faced growing demands for financial support, community and statewide agencies finally had to say, “no more.” UT-Austin capped its enrollment of freshman students. A state-wide budget crisis prompted Governor Rick Perry to ask local entities, including community colleges, to return $3.2 million from previous appropriations and slash $10 million from the next year’s community-college appropriation.
For ACC, a turning point came in the spring of 2003. Board President Rafael Quintanilla argued forcefully for a boost in ACC’s property tax, calling the budget crisis a threat to the College’s very existence, pointing out that the College had respected, not abused, the property tax approved by voters back in 1986 had remained capped at $.05 while enrollments pushed the school’s limits. Almost 1.5 million students had attended ACC since it opened in 1973. Do the math. “One and a half million people on that nickel, “We’re proud of that.” And what was more, Quintanilla added to those who believed that students should pay their own way (as though they didn’t), Quintanilla pointed out that ACC students paid the highest tuition of any large urban community college in the state. A tax and bond issue called on residents of the ACC district
Most Texas community colleges faced some degree of financial stringency, but ACC struggled mightily to educate and train students in limited rented spaces that were often marginally equipped. Furthermore, ACC depended more heavily than most community colleges in the state on legislative appropriations. A number of legislators threatened to deny funds to ACC if it did not levy a tax on its district’s’ property owners, and they had the state’s authority. State law required local communities to raise the money necessary for building construction through local taxes or student tuition. It seemed like most, if not all, the cards were stacked against ACC, but winning the tax/bond election in 1986 had improved the school’s financial situation enormously, and planners, architects, and engineers had done a terrific job designing and constructing the Riverside and Northridge campuses to be as comfortable and efficient as possible. Nevertheless, enrollments continued to skyrocket while space for classrooms, laboratories, and workshops often fell short of what was required to prepare students for the new high-tech jobs being brought to Central Texas’ “Silicon Hills” by corporate giants like IBM, Motorola, and Samsung as well as home-grown Dell.
One way to jump ahead of the curve and stay there was to expand the College’s tax base by adding school districts to the ACC district. That could be accomplished by holding referenda asking voters in districts like rapidly growing Round Rock to join the ACC District and thus to support ACC financially, spreading the financial burden more widely so that ACC could educate their students and prepare them for a better job future as well.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board helped ACC by mandating that each public college in the state develop a master master plan and a new critical metric was the ratio of “floor-space-per-student.” ACC’s floor-space-per-student was the smallest of all community colleges in the state. The problems ACC faced–insufficient space for accommodating the huge demand for ACC classes as the University of Texas and other colleges capped their enrollments to help reduce costs. By the spring of 2003, nearly 1.5 million students had taken classes at ACC since the college had opened its doors, and officials expected 70,000 more to line up for classes. ACC won endorsement from a majority of district voters for
One potential site with plenty of space in a historic area of Austin was Highland Mall. In 1970, when the Mall opened, it was the largest indoor mall in the country. By 2008, however, when the ACC Board of Trustees authorized the school administration to search for available properties to buy. Another intriguing possibility was Mueller international , which fronted on Airport Boulevard, one of the seems that divided predominantly African-American East Austin from mostly white central and West Austin.
Source: Statesman article, High Tech Industry in 2000 Austin and video interview with Dr. Stephen Kinslow and Dr. Richard Rhodes.