by: Jenni Vinson
April 22, 2001
In the early 1920’s it was determined that a teacher’s college was a necessity for this area. It was scheduled to be built in Alice, but we allowed that opportunity to pass us by. That small teacher’s college has grown to be Texas A&M University- Kingsville, my alma mater and the pride of South Texas.
Hopefully we have learned from that mistake and we are not going to allow history to repeat itself. Coastal Bend Community College is a valuable asset to the Alice area and we need to be careful to treat is as such. We have an upcoming opportuntiy to be a part of the growth of the college and to ensure its continued success. In the near future, we will be asked to allow Jim Wells County to annex in to the college’s tax district along with Duval and Brooks counties. This is very necessary and will be of tremendous benefit to our community.
The college is a satellite from the main campus in Beeville, Texas. Bee County is is being taxed to fund the college. Because it is renevue collected from within the county, it can only be spent in that county regardless of the needs of the other campuses and regardless of the size of their student population. This has limited the growth and the development of the college here in Alice and it’s facilities.
Because Coastal Bend Community College is under the Bee County tax district,
the students who enroll on this campus have to pay a sur charge which raises
their tuition as much as 40%. They pay an out-of-district charge even though the
campus is right here.
1. that money will be able to be distributed to and spent on the Alice campus.
That will allow ths campus to upgrade it’s facilities, to grow the existing programs
and to add more programs to what is currently offered.
2. that our students will pay a lower tuition. They will no longer have to pay the
out-of-county sur charge. They could see as high as a 40% reduction in the cost
of tuition.
3. that the Alice area will be represented within the Board of Regents for Coastal
Bend Comminuty College. Presently, the six member board is comprised soley
of residents from Bee County. Although I am confident that these six individuals
are mindful of the needs of our students and our community, we would be best
served by having our own representatives on that board to look out for the
interests of our students and the needs of this campus. We, afterall, contribute
ONE THIRD of the college’s overall population and will likely increase that in the
near future.
The vast majority of these students stay in Alice. They buy houses, cars,
groceries, computers and whatever else they need to maintain their lives and
this money stays in Alice. This not only gives Alice additional revenue which we
can use to better the community, it also gives Alice a better citizenry, a more
informed, a more active group of people to live among.
Any society is well served by having it’s citizens educated. In Alice, Coastal
Bend Commnity College has meant that additional rungs were added to the
socio-economic ladder, which often time has a few rungs at the top, too many at
the bottom and hardly any in the middle for people to step on as they attempt to
climb up.
My grandparents moved to Alice because the wanted to raise thier children in a
community where would be able to find employment and where they would be
able to raise their own children. Each generation wants better for it’s children
than they had for themsleves. Having parents who strive for education is a
tremendous factor in whether the children will accomplish academically as well.
Because of the efforts of Coastal Bend Community College, we have a genration
of people among us with Associates and is it forseeable that the children of
these people will do better. Alice could well become a community highly
comprised of professional people.
Our children would not have to leave for far off places for professional jobs.
Hopefully, this issue will be decided soon. It will be placed on a ballot for our
consideration. It appears as though the area political representatives are all for
this and it is my hope that they will be continue to be vocal in their support for
the tax annexation.
The cost of the tax increase should be 14 cents per every $100.00 on assessed
property evalutation.
The cost of not joining in this tax annexation : an immeasurable loss. We will
never know how much Alice lost in having allowed for Texas A&M to have been
built in Kingsville. We just need to be careful not to allow the boat to pass us by
again.