Local leaders say a state constitutional amendment Texas voters will consider this fall to create an endowment for Texas State Technical College could pay off for Waco businesses, workers and students.
Proposition 1 on the Nov. 4 ballot would provide an $850 million permanent fund for capital projects at the state’s technical college system, which has its flagship campus in Waco.
“It can pay big dividends in the future, an exponential effect of positive outcomes for the Waco area,” said Rick Tullis, a civic and business leader involved with TSTC’s local workforce training.
Since the TSTC system launched in Waco 60 years ago, it has depended on legislative appropriations to make major improvements to facilities and machines. That would change with the passage of Proposition 1, which the state Legislature approved this spring for the November ballot.
State Sen. Brian Birdwell, the Granbury Republican who represents Waco, sponsored the enabling legislation, Senate Joint Resolution 59, with State Rep. Pat Curry, R-Waco, sponsoring it in the House.
Investing in workforce
Tullis, former owner of Capstone Mechanical, has hired and worked with multiple TSTC graduates and served on the advisory committee for the WorkSITE, the college’s industrial training facility in Waco.
Tullis said the endowment would have a long-lasting impact on Waco.
“It will generate some direct economic impact through hiring and through capital projects,” he said. “But I think the long-term thinking is producing those students that are going to go into industry. A lot of them are going to start their own businesses someday.”
TSTC works closely with companies to address gaps in the state’s workforce. Its state funding for operations is determined not by enrollment but by the employment outcomes of graduates.
“If we have students who never get a job, we don’t get any public funding. And we’re the only school that I know of that operates that way,” TSTC Chancellor Michael Reeser said in an interview with The Waco Bridge.
The endowment would allow TSTC to be more nimble in making improvements at its 11 campuses without having to wait for legislative approval.
The system has recently made improvements using $215 million from a 2021 tuition revenue bond, but the system’s needs are growing.
The campuses need not only classrooms but training equipment that needs to be upgraded frequently.
In Waco, TSTC is working on upgrading its airplanes at the college’s airport, at a cost of more than $1 million per airplane.
The airplanes require constant maintenance as part of the Federal Aviation Administration rules.
“We have to stay up with all of that. So the cost of operation, not just acquiring the equipment, but maintaining the equipment too,” Reeser said.
The fund would provide a long-term solution for those costs.
“It doesn’t require additional investment down the road,” Reeser said. “The beauty of it is this money isn’t being spent, the money is being saved, and it’s just the interest that will then be spent in the years to come.”
Catching up on facilities
Recent TSTC capital projects in Waco include the WorkSITE on Wycon Drive, along with a $72 million Construction Technologies Center now under construction at the main campus off Interstate 35. That building will open in spring 2026, housing programs in plumbing, construction, HVAC, carpentry, and electrical work.
Reeser said the new building was necessary to make room for programs such as plumbing, which is currently in a much smaller building.
“They’re space-bound,” Reeser said. “If you saw our plumbing building, it is tiny. It needs to be significantly bigger. And now we’ll have the space.”
The new building will have more than 120,000 square feet of space.
Reeser said that project is one of many upgrades TSTC needs to keep up with demands of a changing industry.
“This fund will definitely make a big difference, because the biggest constraint that TSTC has to growing the number of graduates we put to work is the amount of lab space we have and the equipment that we put in it,” Reeser said.
Disclosure: Texas State Technical College is a financial supporter of The Waco Bridge, a nonprofit news organization that is funded in part by donations from individual donors, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Bridge’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
