On April 18, 1980, several ACC administrators and other Austin/Central Texas civic leaders attended a public meeting of the Advisory Committee for Community/Junior Colleges and Continuing Education of the Coordinating Board of the Texas College and University System: for short, the “Coordinating Board.” As part of the process, the Advisory Committee’s job was to determine if ACC was meeting its district’s academic and vocational training needs. Understandably, committee-members with ties to ACC would likely answer “Yes,” but actually a “no” response would more likely lead to a positive outcome by allowing the ACC to reconfigure itself as a Travis county-wide district with no formal ties to AISD. The vote in 1972 authorizing ACC to offer college credit and occupational and technical courses satisfied the need for a community college in the short-term; however, ACC at that time was not independent of the Austin school district. It was an adjunct to AISD, and that status curtailed its ability to levy taxes and to sell revenue bonds.
The Coordinating Board now was considering a request to make ACC a county-wide school with a larger tax base and its own governing board. A new Travis County Community College might free itself from the alleged promise never to levy taxes on property-owners. If the Coordinating Board concurred, residents of the new district could resolve their district’s issues. Insofar as property taxes were concerned, this would create a brand-new ballgame.
One member of the AISD board, Gustavo [Gus]Garcia, a local certified public accountant (CPA), spoke directly to the opposition to taxing authority for ACC. Specifically, as for the alleged promise that ACC could never ask for taxing authority, Garcia noted that “in 1972 we didn’t know that ACC would need a tax base.” He was also frustrated by the AISD Board of Trustees’ neglect ACC. “I feel strongly about this. “ACC needs its own board.” Walter Pilgrim, head of the Institute for Lifetime Learning, also spoke in favor strengthening ACC so that it could continue to support the community-based Institute for Lifetime Learning.
As the advisory committee continued to hear testimony, it transformed itself into a steering committee that guided ACC toward a tax and bond election election. The vote for holding an election on whether to call for an election was unanimous with one exception. Charles C. Butt abstained due to a potential conflict of interest because of the fact that he owned the H.E.B, grocery chain that leased the Skill Center building to ACC. Coordinating Board set the election for January 17, 1981. The question for voters in this election would be whether to redefine the College’s boundary as the Travis County line. ACC President Cecil Groves told the Steering Committee that the ACC Board of Trustees had already approved a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that was 16 percent higher than the current one. Furthermore, that was the beginning of the Texas Legislature’s base year that determined state funding for the next two years. That, coupled with an expected increase in enrollment of as much as 20 percent, meant that without tax revenue the College would have to turn away as many as 2,000 students trying to enroll in classes.
ACC President Cecil Groves responded to these circumstances enthusiastically and confidently. He counted enough votes for the new college among its 1,000 employees and the 18,000 students expected to enroll for the fall semester.
Along with the financial issues, candidates were lining up to compete for seats on a new ACC/Travis County Board of trustees.
Source: Speak-easy, ACC Faculty and Staff Newsletter April 8, 14, 22, 29, and June 17, 1980.