Measure P Is Not Just Necessary — It Is Long Overdue

Santa Barbara City College is at a critical crossroads. As the president of the Board of Trustees at SBCC, I’ve had the privilege of seeing firsthand how deeply this institution impacts our community. From training nurses and first responders to shaping the local workforce by providing affordable education for nearly half of our local high school graduates, SBCC is a vital resource for the economic, workforce, and social fabric of Santa Barbara.

The reality is that many of our buildings are obsolete, over 50 years old, and in desperate need of repair and replacement. That’s where Measure P comes in. This November, voters have the opportunity to extend an existing tax rate — previously approved by voters in 2008 — to make critical repairs, modernize facilities, and provide our community and students top-notch facilities to serve Santa Barbara County’s South Coast for generations to come. Our board forwarded Measure P to the voters with five of us voting in the majority.

Let me be clear: Measure P is not just necessary — it is long overdue.

What Measure P Will Do — and What It Won’t Do

Measure P includes the most specific bond project list in decades. Every dollar will be accounted for, and the community will have full oversight. An independent citizens’ oversight committee, annual audits, and complete transparency will ensure these funds are spent wisely and effectively. Our board is focused on transparency, efficiency, and accountability. While we won’t be able to complete the entire project list, we will prioritize health and safety in making decisions on projects. Measure P will not expand our campus, it will repair and replace the existing footprint.

Measure P will provide $198 million to update aging classrooms, labs, and career training facilities. These updates will prepare students for high-demand jobs in nursing, health technologies, engineering, and more. This includes replacing the outdated Physical Education and Physical Sciences buildings, which are past their lifespans.

Measure P will not increase tax rates previously approved by voters. Opponents of the measure claim otherwise, but the facts are straightforward and legally binding. The tax rate of $8.50 per $100,000 of assessed property value was already approved by voters in 2008 under Measure V. Since projects under Measure V are completed and the SBCC Board refinanced the bond in 2016 to secure lower interest rates, taxpayers have been paying $6.50 per $100,000. Measure P would return that rate to the $8.50 previously approved by voters and extend it for an additional 20 years, from 2041 to 2061.

As a sign of confidence, SBCC also has the highest bond rating possible for a community college district that is not a basic-aid district (i.e. not funded entirely by local property taxes) — Aa1 by Moody’s.

Measure P ensures that we also secure up to $100 million in state matching funds, with $34 million already pledged for the Physical Education Building. If we don’t act now, those state funds will go to other communities, and Santa Barbara City College will lose out. Letting that happen would be a huge mistake, both fiscally and for our future.

Addressing the Myths: What the “No on P” Side Gets Wrong

1. What Measure P Is For

About 46 percent of the bond project list will address critical repairs across the Cliff Campus, Schott Center, and Wake Campus — everything from fixing leaky roofs, upgrading electrical systems, paving roads, to ensuring safe drinking water. These repairs will benefit every student, credit and adult education. All programs — including engineering, nursing, and health technology — will see direct benefits.

Let’s set the record straight: The Physical Education building is about 30 percent of Measure P’s budget, not the whole measure. And it needs to be replaced for safety reasons, including seismic concerns, leaky roofs, lead pipes, and asbestos remediation. We have a state grant that covers a significant portion of the cost — $34 million that we’ll lose if we don’t come up with a required local match, through Measure P. The new PE building isn’t just for athletics. It will serve the entire community in times of emergency as an evacuation center (as it has during the Thomas Fire and Montecito Debris Flow) and provide safe, up-to-date facilities for health and fitness programs that serve people of all ages.

Anotherroughly 15 percent is for the Physical Science building. This building is also seismically deficient, is very old, and is where students receive critical instruction in sciences like chemistry. This building would be more expensive to repair than it is to replace. With local matching funds from Measure P, SBCC will likely qualify for state matching funds for this project as well.

A final 9 percent is for making our community more resilient to a natural disaster and sustainable, by installing updated solar panels, battery storage for a micro-grid, and EV charging stations. SBCC will be a beacon of safety for all in difficult times.

2. Was Measure V enough?

SBCC’s last bond to upgrade facilities was Measure V in 2008 and it provided $77 million to begin the process of maintaining and rebuilding aging facilities. This may sound like a lot of money — and it is — but it covered only a relatively small portion of the facility needs identified more than 16 years ago and the needs have only grown since then. Facility upkeep is not a “one and done” issue. Many of our facilities are over 50 years old — some need repairs, and some have outlived their useful life and need to be replaced. Of Measure V, 2.2 percent ($1.7 million) was used to complete the La Playa Stadium Press Box before I joined the board (most of the cost of this building was underwritten by a private donor). We can’t change past decisions, but I would not have supported spending bond funds in this way.

The language of both Measures V and P track with the language of most of the bonds in the state, because ballot language must meet strict legal standards. And almost every other community has to ask local voters for funds to repair and maintain aging facilities. SBCC has had one bond pass in 50 years, Measure V. Since Measure V covered a limited portion of the needed repairs, in 2014 the Board unanimously placed Measure S on the ballot after carefully studying the remaining needs. Measure S did not pass. Ten years later, the needs have grown, costs have gone up, and we lost out on state matching funds.

Importantly, decisions about how funds will be spent are based on strict fiscal accountability, with health and safety taking priority. We’re not asking for a blank check — Measure P is about ensuring that critical repairs happen and that state matching funds are secured for the benefit of our community.

3. Enrollment

It is true that enrollment at SBCC has declined over the last 15 years after it peaked in 2009 — and it is important to understand that SBCC is not alone here. Declining enrollments are a trend facing nearly all community colleges nationwide, especially since the pandemic.

But the need for safe, modern, and functional facilities remains as critical as ever. Programs that are growing to meet current needs require modernized labs and equipment that SBCC’s aged facilities simply can’t support. Students may choose other options if SBCC’s offerings are lagging behind. Additionally, even though more students are studying online or in hybrid formats, these students still rely on the campus for hands-on learning in labs and classrooms. 

In Fall 2023 SBCC had a headcount of 13,427 credit students and 5,479 non-credit (generally adult ed) students, 18,906 combined. 71.5 percent use our facilities for their education, 11 percent are Dual Enrollment, and 17.5 percent are exclusively online (and that might be true for one semester and they’re back face-to-face the next). Sixty-two percent of all our students are in-district residents, another 8 percent are from our neighboring counties or northern Santa Barbara County. International/out of state students comprise 5.5 percent (7.5% of the credit program). The last 24.5 percent are California residents, who are constitutionally entitled to attend any California community college with in-state fees.

Two-thousand local students this year are attending with all fees and supplies paid for through the SBCC Promise, and last fall alone 4,906 students (88% local) took tuition-free non-credit courses in the School of Extended Learning. Thousands of local residents every year utilize our campuses largely at little to no cost, and that doesn’t count the visitors using the campus for recreation, events, and more.

We are already working on refocusing our programs to meet needs, just this month SBCC was preliminarily approved to offer an affordable Bachelor of Science degree in Health Information Management — a field in growing demand in our County with good pay.

SBCC is not only about enrollment numbers—it is about providing the best education to meet the needs of today’s workforce. We have consistently done that for decades, and we need modernized facilities to continue to do so.

4. SBCC’s Budget

This Board of Trustees is actively working on developing a strategic direction on how to close our structural deficit, it is Board Goal 1: Achieve Long-term Fiscal Sustainability: Adopt budgets that are sustainable going forward, free of structural deficits, and realistic in terms of enrollment and funding trends. The current board has embraced fiscal transparency, accountability, and sustainability as a priority like never before.

For the past two years the Board of Trustees has focused on undergoing a thorough and collaborative process to reach a fiscally sustainable budget. We commissioned a Budget Sustainability Report in 2022 under former Interim Superintendent/President Kindred Murillo — Trustee Croninger and I served alongside campus constituent representatives on this workgroup. The report completed this year and is now moving into the implementation phase with the leadership of Superintendent/President Erika Endrijonas, who is experienced in these topics.

Part of our budget work is to also look at optimizing our facility use. We’ve already gotten started, with Antioch University becoming a tenant on SBCC’s West Campus. This improves access to higher education for our students and brings in revenue to the college. This is the second of our board approved goals: Board Goal 2: Facilities and Sustainability: Evaluate facility use and needs, and plan for campus facilities that are appropriately sized, modern, well maintained, safe, sustainable, and flexible for current and future needs.

We are actively working on fixing our budget for the long term but this does not change the large scale and overdue needs addressed by Measure P. By modernizing our facilities, they will also cost less in both ongoing maintenance and utility costs, providing a structural reduction in expenditures.

Why Measure P Is Right, Today, for Santa Barbara City College

At its core, Measure P is about ensuring that SBCC can continue to be a pillar of affordable education, job training, and community resilience. The need for these updates has been clear for years. Trustees Marsha Croninger, Veronica Gallardo, Marty Blum, Peter Haslund, Lisa Macker, Marianne Kugler, and Craig Neilsen unanimously voted for Measure S in 2014, a bond that was twice as costly for taxpayers as Measure P and more open-ended in its project list.

The need for these updates has not changed, and the urgency has only grown as costs have increased. I was elected to the board in November 2014, in the same election as the loss of Measure S. After this loss supporters intended to reflect and bring back a new proposal. Our board and administration carefully considered and discussed the need for a bond for the 2018, 2020, and 2022 elections until finally deciding to go to the voters with this bond extension in 2024.

What changed is that we now have a clear, well-considered, and transparent plan to move forward. It is narrowly focused and prioritizes the essentials: health and safety. We hired a Superintendent/President last year with strong experience administering bonds. We chose the tax rate extension over a new bond to minimize costs to taxpayers. We’ve taken the steps necessary to implement this bond program responsibly.

We are committed to full transparency and ensuring that every dollar of Measure P is spent wisely. We are committed to providing affordable education and job training opportunities for Santa Barbara’s students (many who are first-generation college goers), while securing the state funds that will allow us to stretch local tax dollars even further. Waiting two more years would cost us at least $34 million in state funds and at least $14 million due to rising costs.

Our Time to Act Is Now

Measure P is a necessary investment in the future of our community. It’s about ensuring that SBCC remains the educational backbone of Santa Barbara, providing affordable access to quality higher education and job training. It is something we needed to do years ago. By voting yes on Measure P, we are protecting our investment, unlocking millions in state funds, and ensuring that SBCC can continue to serve our students for generations to come — all without raising the tax rate previously approved by voters.

Join me along with a broad coalition of local leaders, educators, and community organizations, in voting yes on Measure P. This bond is about more than just buildings — it is about the future of our community. Let’s make sure we keep SBCC strong and vibrant for all of Santa Barbara.