Oakhurst needs new community college campus

I support funding for State Center Community College District’s Oakhurst campus.

Trustees Miguel A. Arias and John Z. Leal intend to ignore Oakhurst. They say “constructing additional campuses and centers in isolation...should be retired.” Oakhurst-area residents have been paying into the District for a long time, and we request a new campus.

The current Oakhurst campus:

▪ Supports 700-plus students, is on 2.73 acres, consists of modular structures and has no room to expand.

▪  SCCCD plans to construct a permanent building on the existing Oakhurst campus, thereby locking the Oakhurst campus into its inadequate location for at least the next 40 years.

▪  Fresno City College had an enrollment decline of 12.2% from 2007 to 2011.

▪  Reedley, Clovis, Madera and Oakhurst had enrollment increases from 11% to 20%.

▪ Oakhurst area has ample infrastructure and land available for a new campus.

The planned SCCCD bond will cost taxpayers about $20 per year on each $100,000 of assessed property value or $50 a year for a $250,000 home. That is 14 cents a day!

▪ $20 million will build a new campus for the Oakhurst/foothill area.

▪ $20 million is approximately 5% of the planned bond.

We deserve a new campus! We are not in an “isolated” area.

This story was originally published July 16, 2015 at 9:22 AM with the headline "Oakhurst needs new community college campus."