Oregon Public Broadcasting

Now, we’re going to take a quick tour of the state’s community colleges, that are facing huge growth in enrollment.

We’ll look at Portland Community College's plans to expand its campus, but first. we’ll head to Central Oregon Community College, in Bend, where student growth has stretched the campus thin.

Campus leaders have asked the community to fund a $41 million bond to alleviate some of the pressure.

Ethan Lindsey reports from Bend.

Students read, eat, and text message in the college’s brand-new on-campus student union.

The $7 million building is a clear indication of the school’s ambition – and growth.

1000 new full-time students have enrolled in the past two years – a 72 percent rate of growth, the highest in the state.

Jim Middleton: “Our enrollment is really exploding. We’ve been getting some national notoriety as far as that’s concerned.”

COCC president Jim Middleton says the school needs a new building for the nursing program – and he wants to further expand outside of Bend.

Jim Middelton: “Right now we have students that wait 2-3 years to get into the nursing program. They are fully qualified, and ready to go. There just is not enough room in the inn.”

To create more room at the inn, voters in Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties will have a chance to weigh in on a $41 million property tax bond.

The tax, on November’s ballot, would cost the owner of a median-priced home in Bend about $20 per year.

There is no registered or organized opposition to the college’s bond. In fact, there isn’t even an argument against the measure printed in the voter pamphlet.

But a very similar bond was on the ballot last year – and 53 percent of voters rejected it. Locals say any property tax is a tough sell.

That’s why supporters, like lumberyard owner Charley Miller, aren’t expecting an easy win.

Charley Miller: “I’m not a fan of taxes, and really you need to be able to justify it.”

Miller is a leader of the campaign for the bond. He says it would create hundreds of construction jobs on campus immediately – and expand future training for the unemployed, like many of the laid off construction workers he knows well.

Charley Miller: “In our business, we supply framing contractors. I ran into a framing contractor, literally in the halls of COCC who was just admitted to the nursing program. Another framing contractor I ran into is taking credits in education. We all need to find a new gig.”

The COCC bond  is on the ballot across Cental Oregon. Election day is November 3.