Vote for the sales and use tax

This year, Durham Technical Community College celebrated 50 years of providing superior educational and training services to the citizens of Durham. Given its historic commitment to education, it was no surprise that Durham was one of the first six counties in North Carolina to establish a community college to focus on serving the needs of the adult population in our community. Over these 50 years, what we now call Durham Tech developed a comprehensive curriculum to provide tens of thousands of Durham residents with the educational and technical skills needed to help advance their careers as productive workers and citizens. And just 25 years ago, recognizing an important need for advancing educational opportunity, Durham Tech received authorization from the General Assembly of North Carolina to offer a university transfer program so that students of all ages in Durham could take advantage of the accessible educational and program opportunities offered at the college and then, after receiving an AA or AS degree, could transfer to schools in the University of North Carolina System and our state’s private colleges to complete their college education. With the benefit of the knowledge they received at our community college, Durham Tech graduates have gone on to successful educational careers at UNC Chapel Hill, North Carolina State, North Carolina Central and Duke universities as well as numerous institutions of higher education in North Carolina and across the nation.

Durham Tech is, of course, well known for its partnerships with the Durham Public Schools, some of which, like the Gateway to College Program with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have been recognized nationally as among the best to be offered anywhere. And through its many partnerships with local businesses and corporations in the Research Triangle, Durham Tech has provided the essential training and retraining programs that have strengthened the economic fabric of Durham and provided employees with the skills needed to compete for good jobs. I well remember in the 1990s when our nation’s health care system was being buffeted by significant financial challenges, Duke Hospital turned to Durham Tech to train and retrain hundreds of its employees for the new world of medicine. This partnership between one of the nation’s leading hospitals and our very strong community college enabled these hospital employees not only to maintain their employment but to be even more productive workers. Had it not been for Durham Tech’s flexibility, its commitment to working with the area’s major employers and its commitment to the people of Durham, many skilled and talented workers in our community would not have the jobs they now enjoy.

On Nov. 8, the citizens of Durham have an opportunity to invest in the educational and economic future of our community. Recognizing the impact of a 1 percent decrease in the state’s sales tax that had been used locally to help fund Pre-K programs, the Durham Public Schools and Durham Tech, the Durham County Board of Commissioners has authorized a proposed quarter-cent sales and use tax for education that would generate some $9.2 million annually to help support educational quality and opportunity in our community from pre-K to college. If the voters approve the educational tax Nov. 8, Durham Tech is scheduled to receive $825,000 annually to help expand financial aid opportunities—through work-study programs and grants—for hundreds of graduates of Durham Public Schools who qualify for financial aid, including those in Durham who can benefit from the wide range of training programs Durham Tech offers. We cannot pick up a newspaper or watch the news on television or the Internet without hearing about the economic challenges facing our country and state. Improving the quality of education and opportunity for cash-strapped families to access post-high school education is widely recognized as a key to the long-term strength of the country. But with both state and federal governments cutting back their support for education, the burden for attending college increasingly is falling to families. Many students are being forced to take out larger loans, and many have no choice but to drop out of school altogether or stop out for a while to work to raise enough money to continue their education.

By allocating all of the monies it will receive from the sales and use tax for education to support an array of financial aid programs, Durham Tech once again is stepping up to make the high-quality education it offers more available to qualified graduates of Durham high schools and Durham residents. This financial aid will help reduce the tuition burden for literally hundreds of students of all ages. And one of the best parts is that since everyone who purchases goods or services in Durham will pay the quarter-cent sales tax, the million plus visitors who come to Durham to enjoy the outstanding educational, cultural and athletic programs that are synonymous with Durham, not to mention its many outstanding restaurants, will help subsidize the educational benefits our students will receive at all levels of education—pre-K, Durham Public Schools and Durham Technical Community College.

I urge every Durham resident from Duke to vote in the election for mayor and city council Tuesday and, in particular, to vote yes on the quarter-cent sales and use tax for education and the half-cent transit tax.

John Burness is a visiting professor of the practice of public policy and vice chair, Durham Technical Community College Board of Trustees.