About the MiraCosta Bond

By now you’ve probably heard quite a bit of chatter around campus about the upcoming MiraCosta bond election. If not, there is no doubt you will be hearing much more about it as the November elections approach. All one needs to do is look around the Oceanside campus to be convinced that the college needs this bond (though if that doesn’t convince you, feel free to take a ride on one of the toilets in the 4800 building). Once you’ve done that, the only real question remaining for most people is: how do I help?

To begin with, it’s important to have a basic understanding of the bond effort. The small size and numerous spending restrictions placed on California community college budgets leaves little for districts to spend on facilities. At MCC, the unprecedented growth in the student population over the last decade has helped create a tremendous need for facility upkeep and improvements. In placing a bond measure on the November ballot, our trustees are asking district residents to impose upon themselves a small addition to their annual property tax bill. In MiraCosta’s case, our facility needs and the amount requested in the bond are roughly the same: $450 million. If successful, property owners in the district will pay an additional $14.99 per $100,000 in the assessed value of their property.

In recent decades, most community colleges have succeeded in such efforts, including every other community college district in San Diego County. Meanwhile, MiraCosta has not received bond funding in over half a century. By any measure of comparison, MiraCosta is long overdue for a bond.

Recognizing this, over the summer our Board of Trustees voted unanimously to place a bond measure on the November 8 ballot. Subsequently, that measure was assigned to the ballot as “proposition MM.”