Joining the Austin Community College District
Questions & Answers about Joining ACC
Which communities are currently included
in the ACC district?
Austin, Leander, Manor, Del Valle, and Round Rock Independent School Districts, as well as all other parts of the City of Austin (parts of Pflugerville and Eanes ISDs). A majority vote in each area approved joining ACC. Voters in San Marcos Consolidated I ndependent School District have twice petitioned for an election to join the ACC district, but have not yet had an election scheduled due to problems with the petitions.
Which communities are eligible to join?
The people of any county, independent school district, or municipality in the ACC “service area” may join by majority vote in an election. This includes these additional school districts: Bastrop, Blanco, Coupland, Doss, Dripping Springs, Eanes, Elgin, Fredericksburg, Georgetown, Harper, Hays, Jarrell, Johnson City, Lago Vista, Lake Travis, Leander, Liberty Hill, Lockhart, Luling, McDade, Nixon-Smiley, Pflugerville, Prairie Lea, San Marcos, Smithville, and Wimberley.
What are the benefits and costs of
joining the ACC district?
ACC tuition/fee totals for people who are residents of the ACC district are well under half those for non-residents. This is a savings of about $3,000 per year for a full-time student. The cost is a property tax assessment limited to 10 cents per $100, which is about $8 per month for each $100,000 of home value. Senior citizens get an extra $75,000 homestead exemption, and thus pay substantially less.
Why is ACC tuition so much higher for
people who reside outside the ACC district?
The average cost to ACC to provide instruction is currently about $266 per credit hour (most courses are
three credit hours). Out-of-state students pay this full average cost.
The State of Texas reimburses ACC for about 26% of costs for all in-state
students, leaving 74% to be covered by local revenue sources. The local property tax paid
by families and businesses in the ACC district subsidizes local
students, lowering their tuition/fee rate to about 20% of
average cost. Because it is not seen as fair to use the taxes of
in-district communities to subsidize the tuition of students from other communities, the
tuition/fee rate for Texas residents outside the taxing district is
higher, currently about 52% of average costs. Since this is still below
the full-share value of 74% of average cost, the out-of-district tuition rate is
being increased each year by about $10 per credit-hour.
What role does Friends Of ACC play in
efforts of communities to join the ACC district?
Friends of ACC is a political action committee formed to support citizen efforts to expand or better support the Austin Community College district. It provides free support for local campaigns – petition-drive information, campaign-materials production, and fundraising. The local campaign committee decides on the timing of the election, any needed adaptations of campaign materials and tactics to local conditions, and the best targets for petition and campaigning efforts.
How can a "Join ACC" election be called?
If 5% of the registered voters in a eligible area sign a petition asking for such an election, ACC will call the election (in May or November) after holding public hearings to explain ACC's plans to serve the area. Signatures are good for six months. Approval of the ACC Board is also required, but their policies state that any community wishing to join will be given permission upon request.
How much time and effort does the petition drive take?
Petitions should be delivered to ACC by 120 days before the target election date (e.g., by early July for a November election, or early January for a May election).
The length of time needed to collect signatures depends on the number of people involved in collecting them, but a month or two should be enough for a well-organized campaign. Several methods have proven to work: [1] door to door canvassing in neighborhoods, working from lists that show the registered voters at each address (Friends of ACC can supply these), [2] mailings of petition form to voters with stamped return envelopes included, and [3] collecting signatures at community events such as football games. Refusal rates when canvassing are very low, less than 10%. The return rate the mailing is lower, but less volunteer effort is required. Friends of ACC can supply addresses of voters, prioritizing those households in which a family member has attended ACC.
Anyone can collect signatures, and it is permissible to pay signature collectors, although collection by volunteers is quite feasible. Volunteers and mailings produced most signatures in campaigns so far. Some safeguards are prudent to ensure that petition signatures are valid. Petition drives run by Friends of ACC make use of voter rolls to check that signers are eligible and are using their official voter-roll names and certificate numbers. FOACC also provides voter lists arranged by street address to facilitate door-to-door campaigning, but does not supply its campaign workers with voter birthdate information, requiring that to be gathered from the signer as a validation. Duplications in handwriting are also checked for, and any dubious or ineligible signatures are marked off the petitions prior to turning them in. A futher possible check is to send a letter to each signer household, asking to be informed if there is any question about the validity of the signature.
What campaign is required to win the election after the petitions are submitted?
The Spring 2004 campaign in Del Valle ISD got a 59% favorable vote with campaign expenditures of less than $5000 and a modest-sized (but hardworking) group of volunteers, even though it shared the ballot with another controversial tax proposition. The May 2005 "All of Austin" vote got about 61% approval in the new areas. The earlier Manor election, which had strong support from the leadership of the school district, got a 70% majority with even lower expenditures. In the larger Round Rock ISD election, on the other hand, local community leaders raised and spent about $100,000, getting most of the needed signatures by mail.
Community colleges command much wider support than many other types of government action (even than public elementary and secondary schools), and it is usually possible to build a broad range of local support, especially from community leaders. Still, the relatively high level of Texas real-estate taxes ensures that the proposition will encounter substantial voter resistance, especially since most people underestimate the likelihood that they or the members of their family will use ACC directly.
While some basic campaign work is needed to inform people of the election, the deciding factor in such an election will be the extent to which people in the community feel that ACC is a useful institution. Since this is generally acknowledged, a campaign that reminds people of this and emphasizes that joining the ACC district will cut student tuition/fee costs by more than half can be expected to be successful, especially if ACC is willing to build a new campus in the community.
It is easy to identify likely voters (those who have voted in similar past elections, plus ACC students and their families), and adequate mailings to inform them cost less than $1 per household.
What is the next step if I am interested in getting my community to join?
Talk to your local community leaders first (e.g., pastors, elected officials, organization leaders), since the support (or at least neutrality) of most of them will be essential. You can also ask our central Friends Of ACC group if we have heard from other interested people in your community. At the request of any interested group, we will send someone to meetings in your community to share information about the process of joining ACC. You can also get information about ACC services directly from the college [website or email], although the college cannot take part in political activities or provide direct support in the petition drive or election (that's why Friends Of ACC was organized).