March 3, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Larry Kelley
(805) 756-2171
Proposition 55 Passes, Brings $71 Million in Direct Dollars to Central Coast
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Cal Poly, Cuesta College, Allan Hancock College
and
K-12 schools on the Central Coast will all be able to remodel and
replace decades-old classrooms and equipment thanks to the narrow
passage of Proposition 55, the school building bond on Tuesday’s
ballot.
California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley reported this morning that
votes from all precincts in California had been tabulated and that
Proposition 55 was approved by a narrow margin, with 50.6 percent of the
vote. Complete information, including a county-by-county
breakdown, are available on the Secretary of State’s web site at:
http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections.htm.
“We are very grateful to the voters of the State of California
for
recognizing the need to bring our schools up-to-date and invest in the
students of today and tomorrow,” said Cal Poly President Warren
J.
Baker. “The ‘yes’ vote on Proposition 55 should also
help the local
economy. Proposition 55 will bring more than $71 million in direct
dollars to the Central Coast, and the UC Santa Barbara economic forecast
project has estimated that this figure should translate to a boost of
some $200 million for the local economy,” Baker said.
For Cal Poly, approval of Proposition 55 means the university will
receive more than $35 million in funding, including more than $28
million in construction money for a new building to house architecture
and construction management programs, $5.3 million for equipment for a
new engineering building that begins construction this summer, and $1
million for design of a new science and mathematics building.
“The real beneficiaries are, of course, the students, because they
will
get to move out of classrooms built in the 1940s, 50s and 60s into
classrooms with wiring and technology to support the level of
instruction expected today,” said Baker.
For details on what projects Proposition 55 will fund on
the Central
Coast, visit the Cal Poly News web site at:
http://www.calpolynews.calpoly.edu/prop55.html.
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