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College of the Desert Insider Interview with William Berry
William Berry Campaigns has been retained by COD as bond campaign consultant as the college looks at the feasibility of going on the March 2004 ballot with a bond issue to repair and replace outdated infrastructure, fund and implement COD’s long-range master plans, and keep pace with the projected growth in the Coachella Valley.
Photo by Mike Hadley
Bill Berry, whose office is in Sacramento, comes highly recommended by other community college districts in California. His 14 years of experience has included extensive campaign work on 60 local funding measures in the state, including eight for California community colleges, all of which were approved by voters. He is currently working on a bond campaign for Victory Valley Community College District and engaged in a feasibility study for Desert Community College District, which has included a recently-completed opinion survey.
On Friday, Berry was at the COD campus for a series of informational presentations which continue today and tomorrow. He sat down with us and answered some questions about the bond campaign process.
Insider: We understand a number of Community College Districts have gone out for bond issue elections in recent years. Why is that?
Berry: In just the last two years, 48 districts have either been on the ballot or will be next March. About 90% of all community college bond elections have taken place in the last three years since Proposition 39 lowered the approval threshold to 55 percent [from two-thirds]. This gave colleges new opportunities to plan 10 or 20 years into the future and find a way to implement and fund those plans. Last year, there were 23 community college bond issue campaigns in California. Voters approved all but two of them and they are both going to be on the ballot again in 2004.
Insider: What have you learned about Desert Community College District? If COD goes for a bond issue in March, would it pass?
Berry: We did a survey to gauge how the community felt about the college itself and how it feels about supporting a bond issue to implement COD’s master plans. The support was overwhelming. The support for the college and a bond issue was more popular than I’ve seen for a community college district. The poll showed that 64 percent had a positive assessment of COD, and only one percent was negative about the college. As for supporting a bond issue, 69 percent said were in favor and just 21 percent were opposed. So nearly seven out of 10 said they would support a bond issue in the $340 million range in order to help COD meet its necessary goals.
Insider: Is the $340 million figure what’s going to appear on the ballot if this goes to election? Berry: No, not necessarily. The Board of Trustees will determine that, but it appears from the facilities plan that it might be in the $290-plus range. The $340 is probably about the maximum it would be to do everything that’s needed over a 15-year period, so we used that figure in the survey.
Insider: If the bond measure is approved, would the college get the money all at once?
Berry: No, the district would sell the bonds to coincide with building and construction plans. It may take up to five years for design, construction and occupancy of any new facility. The college does not get all the money at once. A college committee would first prioritize the order of the approved projects. New building projects won’t begin until there’s an increase in student demand. And all of this is subject to a strict audit and oversight.
Insider: What sort of oversight?
Berry: Well, the reason Prop 39 was so popular is not just because it lowers the number of votes for approval to 55 percent; it also comes with substantial checks and balances. By law, the money must be used for construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation of school facilities, including furnishings and equipment – such things as computers, desks and so forth. It can also be used to acquire or lease real property. But no teacher or administrator salaries or operating expenses can come out of bond proceeds. There are also limits imposed on the bonding capacity; for example no more than $25 per year per $100,000 of assessed valuation can be imposed on homeowners in the district in a bond campaign. And the debt is secured by ad valorem taxes.
Insider: Who keeps an eye on all those requirements? The college?
Berry: No, that’s the best part. A citizen’s oversight committee must be formed. Its members are drawn from the community, not from the ranks of college administrators or faculty or staff. Their job is to inform the public of all expenditures and report activities twice a year. Their minutes, reports and documents must be made available on a website. They review copies of independent audits and inspect school facilities and grounds for compliance. And this committee must by law be appointed within 60 days of the release of official election results.
Insider: So no bond proceeds go for salaries to faculty and administrators, then?
Berry: That’s correct; such expenditures would be forbidden by law, and these things are closely monitored.
Insider: In the specific case of COD, what might the bond money be used for?
Berry: To repair and renovate the 40 year old campus in Palm Desert, to begin with. We’re talking leaky roofs and outdated electrical and plumbing systems. Then COD needs to add classrooms to handle students in an area where the population is expected to double in the next decade or two. Vital programs such as nursing, job training, business career training, and the college’s mission to prepare students for a career or to go on to four-year universities -- these all need to be strengthened and the bond issue would provide facilities and equipment to do that. The hard work really begins after the bond is passed. Priorities will then be set in terms of what’s needed first to help the most students, and that’s a collective decision-making process intended to take COD to the year 2017.
Insider: How much input goes into the makeup of a bond issue, in terms of decisions about what is needed for COD’s future?
Berry: COD has done the most extensive outreach of any college I’ve worked with in terms of getting input on its educational and facilities master plans. They’ve been all ears. Hundreds of people, perhaps over a thousand, have had or will have input on this. Members of the COD family have had dozens of opportunities to give input on these plans, and the result has been that the college has been able to create better plans.
Insider: If this goes to the ballot, can you clear up some confusion about what District employees can and cannot legally do, in terms of working for passage of the bond issue?
Berry: Typically, district employees are very active in the campaign to pass a bond issue. It’s their future, and the college is really their second home, so they tend to be active. But that’s before and after work. They cannot advocate on behalf of a campaign on district time or on district property, using district resources. So volunteerism happens, but it happens after work hours and away from college offices. That’s the law and we adhere to it very closely throughout the campaign. You can educate and inform while on campus, on district time, but that is limited to impartial facts, such as the size of the bond, the facility plan, the costs involved, and so forth. You just can’t cross the line into advocacy. You can talk about it all you want, but you can’t campaign.
Insider: You talked about the vast majority of community college bond campaigns that voters approved in the past two years. Why do you think that has happened?
Berry: I can tell you that I’m a product of a California community college and so are most of my family members. I’ve seen how community colleges can improve the lives of Californians from generation to generation. These are not just bond issues, they are life-changing and community-changing events and they ensure access to a college education that many of our parents did not have. So, while it is a political campaign, and we run it like one, communities have passed these bond measures because the colleges improve the lives and welfare of their communities immeasurably.