Waco-based Texas State Technical College will benefit from an $850 million endowment to finance facility upgrades and maintenance after voters in McLennan County and statewide Tuesday overwhelmingly approved Proposition 1.
The first of 17 state constitutional amendments, the TSTC measure won nearly 70% of 3 million statewide votes tallied by Wednesday morning. In McLennan County, the measure won 20,556 or 79.3% of the 25,918 votes cast.
TSTC’s Waco flagship campus and 10 others around the state have previously depended on the Legislature during its biennial session to fundfrom the state budget to support essential capital projects.
“With the creation of the Technical Institution Infrastructure Fund (TIIF), TSTC will now have a stable, annual source of capital funding to grow and modernize its campuses across the state,” TSTC Chancellor and CEO Mike Reeser said in a written statement Wednesday morning.
“This historic vote reflects our shared commitment to building a stronger Texas workforce in essential industrial sectors like electrical power, water, construction, transportation, and advanced manufacturing,” Reeser said.
The $850 million will come out of the state’s general revenue fund and routed into the Texas Institutional Infrastructure Fund. The State Comptroller’s Office will make a fraction of those dollars available through a new Workforce Education Fund, the Texas Tribune reports.
TSTC estimates interest on the endowment will bring in about $40 million a year for capital projects.
State Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, along with state Rep. Pat Curry, R-Waco, were early sponsors and proponents of legislation that brought the proposition to voters.
Waco-area leaders have repeatedly emphasized the importance of TSTC in building a local workforce trained for modern industries, including new companies such as the billion-dollar Graphic Packaging International paper mill.
“If we continue to expand opportunity by bringing the right kind of companies in here that pay good wages, we’re more apt to keep folks here, especially those that were raised around this area,” McLennan County Judge Scott Felton told The Waco Bridge in September.
The college partnered with local governments on the WorkSITE, a $17 million, 26,000-square-foot workforce training facility that opened on Wycon Drive this year.
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.
