To: The Board of Trustees and Residents of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District
The Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee is pleased to present its annual report on the progress of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District’s $490.8 million general obligation Measure C bond initiative for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.
The committee continues to carry out its principal duties of informing the public about the expenditure of bond proceeds; ensuring that the district spends bond money only for the purposes set forth in Measure C; and producing an annual report of the committee’s proceedings and activities, including a compliance statement. Responsibilities of the Foothill-De Anza Board of Trustees include overseeing the bond program, prioritizing projects, and monitoring progress and spending on individual projects and potential cost overruns.
In 2015-16, the district completed comprehensive renovations of the Foothill College and De Anza College libraries, providing students at both campuses with enhanced technology, inviting learning environments, and more spaces for group study and collaboration. The updates have proven extremely popular with students who are making maximum use of the thoughtfully redesigned libraries.
Other projects completed on the Foothill campus included replacing the stairway from Parking Lot #1 to the back of the Smithwick Theatre and resurfacing of the main campus thoroughfare, the Loop Road. In Sunnyvale, construction continued on a new education center. The Foothill College Sunnyvale Center remained on schedule to open for the fall quarter 2016, equipped with Measure C-funded classroom technology.
Projects at De Anza College completed during the year included the rebuilding of Parking Lot E and renovation of classrooms in the L-7 building. Work also began on the L-7 data center, with completion in fall 2016.
A new district training room was completed this year, housed in the previously renovated Educational Technology Services Building, formerly the district office building. Measure C is funding a new district office building and boardroom on Parking Lot 7 on the Foothill campus. Design work for this new building is well underway and a bid was awarded in fall 2016. Groundwork also began in 2015-16 for conversion of all telephones in the district to a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system.
Funding provided by our community through Measure C is an indispensable investment that supports student success. It has proven essential to maintaining both Foothill College and De Anza College campuses as valuable community resources to enhance educational opportunities and train and retrain students for higher paying, higher skilled jobs.
In addition to its quarterly meetings to review Measure C activities, the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee relied on the annual performance and financial audits conducted by Vavrinek, Trine, Day & Co., LLP, to carry out its duties. These annual audits disclosed no instances of non-compliance with the terms of Proposition 39 or Measure C. The committee wishes to report that, to the best of its knowledge, the Foothill-De Anza Community College District is in full compliance with the responsibilities described in Article XIIIA, Section 1(b)(3) of the California State Constitution. A full disclosure of the performance and financial audits can be viewed here.
Very truly yours,
Dudley Andersen,
Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee Chair