(Seguin) — One of the amendments on the state’s constitutional amendment election ballot is getting lots of support from local business leaders in Seguin. Proposition One calls for the creation of an endowment that will provide a better funding mechanism for Texas State Technical College (TSTC). TSTC already operates a small campus near the New Braunfels Municipal Airport, but has plans to relocate and build a much larger campus on Highway 46 in Seguin.
Chester Jenke, president of the Seguin Area Chamber of Commerce, says Proposition One would give TSTC a better way to access the funding that it needs to help students get trained for their future careers.
“Proposition One is Senate Joint Resolution 59, which created the opportunity to create a constitutional amendment that creates a permanent technical institution infrastructure fund. That’s a long phrase for saying it creates an endowment using the general fund, which is money that’s already there– about $850 million. TSTC gets to use those, for lack of better terms, interest off of those funds to create new programs and to fund programs that are already in place,” said Jenke.
The approval of Proposition One would streamline their efforts to get funding for capital projects, like the one that’s planned here in Seguin.
“Currently, they have to go back to the legislature every two years and ask for dollars and cents to do some of these larger projects that they may have, such as possibly the Seguin campus located at Highway 46 and Cordova Road. So, this kind of creates a little bit of a shortcut, if you will, to get those funds into their hands to where they can react to those technical changes and that technology that’s happening today. which may be old technology in two years down the road when they finally get the approval from the legislature to do that. So, it’s a win-win for all,” said Jenke.
TSTC provides real-world training that allows students to get into high-demand jobs across the state. Jenke says that’s why this is such a good investment for the state to make, and it’s why he hopes that voters will approve Proposition One.
“The number one thing that TSTC brings to the table is those technical courses that seem to be the gold star for all of those technical jobs, whether it be locally at CMC, Caterpillar, or whether it be on a statewide level when you’re talking about the Samsung folks and some of those folks up in the Sweetwater area that do those technical skills on energy projects. So again, I think the biggest takeaway that I got from having a conversation with the TSTC Chancellor, Mike Reeser, was that they have a 100 percent money-back guarantee for their graduating students if they do not get a job in the field that they are trained in. And he put a cherry on top of that and said, ‘by the way, we have not yet had to refund a dollar of anybody’s tuition.’ So, that’s pretty successful and that’s pretty bold on their part to say, ‘I’ll give you your money back if you don’t get a job in that career field that we’re training you for,” said Jenke.
Jenke is not alone in his public support. The chamber’s board of directors has long been a supporter of this effort. He says it’s important for communities like Seguin and it’s important for the people of Texas.
“The Chamber Board got behind this early, even before we knew that TSTC was planning a campus right here in Guadalupe County that would serve the region of Guadalupe and Como counties — simply because it provides technical training which puts dollars back into our economy,” said Jenke.
Proposition One is one of 17 constitutional amendments on the November 4 ballot. Early voting is currently underway and runs through this Friday. Early voting locations include the new Guadalupe County Elections Office, located at 3251 N. State Highway 123. The other locations include Texas State Technical College in New Braunfels, Cibolo Fire Station Number Two, Redemptive Grace Ministries in New Braunfels, Christ Lutheran Church in the New Berlin area, the Elections Office Annex in Schertz, the Marion ISD Tondre Room, and the Seguin ISD Administration Building. The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day.