$900.5 Million Higher Education Bond Referendum

 

By overwhelming bipartisan majorities, the Virginia General Assembly this spring approved a $900.5 million general obligation bond package for educational facility capital projects.  The Governor supported the measure and signed it into law.

 

For it to take effect, Virginia voters must approve the bond package on the November 5 statewide ballot.  It is the first such bond referendum since 1992, and only the fourth in Virginia history.

 

If approved, the funds would pay for urgently needed upgrades, renovations, modernizations and new construction at Virginia's public college and university campuses, museums, and historic sites.

 

Every college, university, and community college in every region of Virginia will benefit.

           

Beyond bricks and mortar, the education referendum is about expanding opportunity for more students to go to college, acquire knowledge, and learn new skills so they can get good jobs and get ahead in today's changing economy.

           

By 2010, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia projects 32,000 more students at Virginia public colleges and universities.  Existing facilities cannot accommodate them.  Without the new space the bonds will provide, these students will be forced to forego a college education or go out of state, at a higher cost to families, to earn their degrees.

           

The education referendum also is about enhancing Virginia's economic competitiveness and quality of life.  The bond plan will help universities advance life-saving medical research, science, and technology breakthroughs.  It also will generate over $1.5 billion in economic activity by 2008, create nearly 14,000 new jobs, and not raise taxes or affect Virginia's AAA bond rating.