Allan Hancock College lost out on millions of dollars on Election Day, and although officials are already working to find backup funding, renovations are going to be a challenge.
Despite an extensive campaign effort and what appeared to be vast community support, Santa Barbara County residents voted against Hancock’s proposed $75 million bond on Nov. 6, leaving the school with little additional funding to renovate many of its oldest buildings, replace its fine arts facilities, and enhance classroom technology and equipment as planned.
The results—a “no” from more than 52 percent of voters—came as a shock to many, including Hancock President and Superintendent Kevin Walthers.
While Walthers said many Santa Maria Valley voters are understandably wary of measures that increase taxes, several business and property owners who would have been directly impacted by Hancock’s Measure Y supported it. Local conservative politicians, including a few Santa Maria City Council members and members of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, publicly endorsed the bond, as did various “tax-skeptical” organizations, including the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association.
And after spending roughly $90,000 to a launch a sizeable social media outreach campaign, mail informational cards to every home in the area, and canvass a large portion of the county, Walthers said he thought Measure Y had a good chance of passing.
“So it really—when you see the results come in, you’re like, ‘Oh wow, how did we misread this?’” Walthers said.
Several community members, however, did not support the bond, and actively worked to derail its passage throughout Hancock’s campaign. That includes Hancock Trustee Dan Hilker, who helped write a scathing argument against the bond in the county’s official voter guide. Hilker called Measure Y “shoddy,” and said it was “thrown together last minute” in a Facebook post on Oct. 27, and claimed the fine arts building could be completed using internal monies.
Although Hilker could not be reached for a comment before the Sun’s press time, Walthers said Hilker’s campaign against Measure Y could be at least partially to blame for its failure to pass.
“I think what was in the voter guide was huge,” Walthers said.
Now it’s back to the drawing board for Hancock administrators and officials, who, after spending years developing plans for Measure Y and getting it on the ballot, will have to find new ways to fund the facility improvements that Y would have paid for.
Hancock had secured $24 million in state funding to replace its aging fine arts facilities, and now that Measure Y failed, Walthers said the college must find a new way to fund the other half of the project or risk losing the state money.
Although Hancock already secured a $10 million gift dedicated to the fine arts project, it’s still unclear just how the school will come up with the other $14 million without Measure Y. Walthers said the state also underestimated the total costs of the project, so Hancock will likely need to come up with more than originally thought.
Hancock’s financial team is working to find reserve funds that could be used on the fine arts project, Walthers said, although that would result in money being taken from something else. Measure I, a Hancock bond approved by voters in 2006, is capped, and remaining money from that won’t be available for several years.
The school may have to consider applying for a loan, though Walthers said the yearly costs and interest rates would be steep. He also said that while administrators may consider putting another bond on the next ballot, that would be too late to save the state’s $24 million.
“As long as we can come up with the rest of the project dollars, the $24 million will stay,” Walthers said. “But if we have to wait until some future time when we can go out for another bond, that money will go away.”
While Walthers said the fine arts building is Hancock’s main focus right now, the other projects Measure Y would have funded—including improvements to the physical education facilities, PCPA theater in Solvang, and Public Safety Training Complex in Lompoc—are also priorities, and changes that are needed.
“They’re all things that are pretty critical if the community wants us to continue to produce students who can transfer to Cal Poly or go somewhere to get a four year degree or join the workforce here in Santa Maria,” Walthers said. “We’ve got to update the facilities that were built in the ’60s. That’s just the reality of where we are.”
Staff Writer Kasey Bubnash writes School Scene each week. Information can be sent to the Sun via mail, fax, or email at mail@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 6, 2018.