THOUSANDS OF SIGNATURES COLLECTED FOR NEW COLLEGE DISTRICT
The committee behind the proposed vocational school in Brazos County says they have collected thousands of signatures on a petition for the creation of a new community college district.
The Research Valley Partnership’s Talent Pipeline Initiative Steering Committee hit the polls on Tuesday in an attempt to collect 10 percent of Brazos’ County registered voters’ signatures.
In a press release Thursday, officials with the committee said they were “overwhelmed by the community response”. The steering committee co-chairman Ivan Olson said that it is too soon to get a signature count, but “it’s easily in the thousands.”
Olson emphasized again that committee members are exploring all viable options in their quest to meet the workforce development needs of Brazos County, including partnering with Blinn College.
Olson said that their one and only goal has always been to fill the opportunity gap that exists in Brazos County and that “developing a new community college district would put the future of the county’s self-governance of taxes and resources in the hands of county students and residents” but that they are open to a “viable and reasonable proposal by Blinn.”
Officials with Blinn College released a response statement last Friday, saying that given Blinn’s demonstrated commitment to Brazos County, a new community college represents an unnecessary burden for local taxpayers and a step backward for local educational services.
Richard Bray, the Director of Communications for Blinn College, says they are open to working with the committee:
Bray went on to say that the collection of signatures is the beginning of a long process:
The next step in the process, if the committee gets the appropriate percentage of registered voters, is to verify the signatures through voter registration rolls, and then forward them to the county for certification. Once certified, the petition gives authority to the Brazos County Commissioners Court to call an election. The committee will then present the petition to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) at its January 2017 meeting to formally notify the board of its intent to create the new district.