Why do the Community Colleges need almost a billion dollars?
The State of Arizona provides less than 11% of the operating budget for the Maricopa Community Colleges. The rest is paid for by students and the Maricopa County taxpayers. However, the bonds are not used for operational funds, only for capital funding. In other words, the bonds pay for buildings, parking lots, sidewalks, classrooms, offices, laboratories, equipment and land. The State provides almost none of the money needed for these items. With annual student growth exceeding population growth in the county, it is projected that almost 400,000 students will be attending the community colleges every year by 2010. Master plans prepared by each of the colleges and the District in a public process over the past two years have shown that current classroom and laboratory space and facilities will not be adequate to meet the needs of that many students.
