A San Mateo County bond measure, that would have helped Skyline College renovate its 40-year-old Social Science and Creative Arts building, was narrowly defeated in the Nov. 8, 2011 elections.

San Mateo County bond measure H failed to get the 55% of votes it needed to pass on Election Day.

Measure H was a bond measure targeted specifically at the San Mateo County Community College District, which means that some of the funds would have gone directly to help renovate Skyline College.

According to measure H supporters, the $546 million bond measure would have assessed the average homeowner a property tax of about $6.50 per month to support construction and infrastructure projects throughout the San Mateo Community College District.

This means that decades-old Skyline College buildings would likely have seen improvement with the passage of Measure H.

The Nov. 8 local elections have long since passed, but there are those who still reflect on what the success of Measure H might have meant for San Mateo County Community Colleges as well as the possible reasons for its failure.

“Had the bond measure passed, it would have had considerable impact on the college and the students in the upcoming years,” said Skyline College Interim Vice President of Instruction Michael Williamson.

According to Williamson, Skyline College had plans to renovate Building 1, which is the Social Science and Creative Arts building.

“(Building 1) is totally outdated for the arts.” Williamson said. “For performing arts, for visual arts, it just no longer meets the needs of the students very well for that. Some of those buildings still have a long way to go to get to the twenty-first century.”

Williamson also mentioned plans to update the Skyline College Library and Learning Center located in Building 5, citing the increasing student need for access to electronic resources that the Skyline College Learning Center cannot meet.

Official arguments against Measure H, filed in the Office of the Chief Elections Officer of San Mateo County, said that the last thing San Mateo County homeowners needed was more taxes.

“San Mateo families are already struggling in this economy,” the arguments said. “Every dollar taxed away is a dollar they can’t use for food, clothes, housing or other essentials.”

Certainly, the local economy is a factor when considering the implementation of new taxes, and Measure H proponents are not ignorant to the role the economy has to play.

The timing of Measure H may also have been less than perfect, Williamson said. The San Mateo County Community College District was hoping that an improvement in the economy would result in a public more willing to endorse Measure H.

“Economically, these are tough times for a lot of people,” Williamson said. “When you look at additional taxes placed on your property, you give a second thought to that.”

Despite the voters’ reticence to endorse this most recent bond measure, two San Mateo Community College bond measures in past elections saw overwhelming support, and in Williamson’s estimation, may have prevented class sections from being cut at Skyline College.

In addition to the economy, Williamson said it’s also possible that the Measure H campaign was not as influential as it could have been, especially when it came to informing students.

“Students could have been great advocates for (Measure H),” Williamson said. “It may not have done as well as it could have because of the lack of an information campaign as to what the benefits would have been.”

While thee failure of Measure H may have put some of Skyline College’s plans on hold for the time being, the San Mateo Community College system remains firm in its mission to provide the county with quality educational facilities.

“It’s certainly a setback in the direction we’d like to have the colleges move,” said Williamson. “Our main reason for doing this is that we want to be able to have the best possible environment for students.”