Emily Klement, left, dean of Bowie and Graham campuses for North Central Texas College, gets a hug from Shelly Key, director of the Graham campus, after voters approved a five-cent tax for NCTC.
Voters overwhelmingly approve NCTC tax
by By David Rupkalvis
(Posted 11/6/2009 02:50 pm)
editor@grahamleader.com
Voters in Graham ISD overwhelmingly sided with higher education, with almost 70 percent voting to create a five-cent maintenance and operation tax for North Central Texas College.
The unofficial results show 1,101 voters cast ballots for the NCTC tax while 476 voted against the tax. The 69.8 percent in favor marks the second time in two years voters in Graham ISD agreed to raise their taxes to benefit education. Two years ago, voters approved the Graham High School bond package with close to 90 percent in favor.
Neal Blanton, the president of the Graham Education and Workforce Center board, said seeing the voters stand up for education makes him proud to live in Graham.
“That’s absolutely the best thing about this, the citizens spoke up and said we want a better education system,” Blanton said. “We wanted a college for our kids.”
For close to 18 months, Blanton and the GEWC board had worked with NCTC to bring the college to Graham. That dream came true earlier this year when NCTC welcomed more than 200 students. But to guarantee NCTC’s presence and growth, Blanton and many others worked to get the tax passed.
When the results came in Tuesday, Blanton breathed a big sigh of relief.
“I feel really good,” he said. “I feel really good for the citizens. They’re the ones who stood up and said, ‘We want a better level of education for our kids.’”
Blanton said asking voters to approve a new five-cent tax was challenging in the current economic climate. But despite recent tax increases by the county and city, the voters still sided with NCTC.
“It’s a tough environment, and I understand those people who just don’t want to pay more taxes,” Blanton said. “In the end, this is going to pay back more than it will bring in. From an economic development standpoint, this will pay back many times.”
While Blanton was often the public face in the NCTC election, he was quick to point out that many others worked hard to get the tax passed. He thanked Bruce Street, Steve Hartgraves, Dianne Cody and others for their work.
Street said getting a branch campus of NCTC in Graham is a perfect partnership.
“I am so pleased that we have a home for education,” Street said. “I think it’s a caring home that is interested in our welfare. We should be equally concerned with what is happening in Gainesville.”
For many years, Street and the Knowledge Based Foundation have been financially supporting the work done at GEWC. The foundation paid to renovate the building and has funded much of the work to bring higher education back to Graham. With the vote, Street said the money and work was worthwhile.
“It’s really the ultimate acknowledgement of what we did,” Street said. “We did that with a belief that it would work. We weren’t sure how, but we knew it would work. This is our crowning moment.”
Emily Klement, dean of the Bowie and Graham campuses for NCTC, said having a branch campus is also a big moment for the college.
“I’m very excited,” she said. “We’re just thrilled. This is the first branch campus for the NCTC system.”
Klement has been working with the GEWC and the community for more than a year to get NCTC to Graham. With the branch campus designation secured and the long-term future locked in, she said working with GEWC and others made the vote possible.
“The key to all this has been partnerships,” Klement said. “Just look at all the partnerships between GEWC and the community, the business community. This has been an incredible journey.”
Supporters of the college celebrated Tuesday, but Klement said NCTC was ready to get to work Wednesday morning. Klement said with the branch campus, tuition rates for students will drop almost in half. While the first tax dollars won’t be collected until next year, NCTC will begin offering the reduced rates for the spring semester. Klement said she asked the Graham staff not to accept students until after the vote because she hoped to offer the lower rate.
Once the tax money begins to come in, every penny will be used in Graham. Klement said the first construction projects are a student services center, a book store and faculty offices.
“The money we get will be set aside just for the maintenance of the Graham campus,” Klement said. “It will not go into the general fund.”
And the five-cent tax will also not be raised because the state has capped the tax at five cents.
With the election out of the way, Blanton said the real work would have to begin.
“The hard part now kicks in,” he said. “It’s up to NCTC to put up a product the kids will be excited about and will participate in. I think they’ll do that.”
While the GEWC board Blanton leads will go away, an NCTC advisory board will be created to put forward ideas on what is needed in Graham.
“It’s a representative board from the community,” Klement said. “The best source of what is needed from a college is the people in the community. The live here, eat here and breathe here. They know what is needed.”
For Blanton and NCTC supporters, the work is not finished either.
“It’s still our responsibility to help the college anyway we can,” he said. “We’re working with their foundation to create a foundation for Graham to give scholarships to kids.”
Thanks to the voters, the future of education in Graham is bright, Klement said.
“I am thrilled personally to be in higher education at this time,” she said. “It’s thrilling to be a part of something this exciting.”
Eddie Hadlock, left, president of North Central Texas College, looks over notes written by Neal Blanton as Blanton announces the results of the vote to create a maintenance and operations tax for NCTC.
