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A News & Record editorial

GTCC -- $79.5 MILLION

What it is: A new northwest campus near the airport, an aviation classroom building, land acquisition, and classroom renovations and upgrades.

Your cost: The owner of a $200,000 home would pay an average of $24.83 more in property taxes over the next five years, ranging from a low of $9.26 in extra taxes in FY 2008-09 to a high of $33.94 in 2011-12, less in later years.

Pros: GTCC needs to keep pace with growing demands for job training and retraining, especially during a soft economy.

Cons: At $12 million, the proposed new Jamestown parking deck seems especially expensive.

Our take: Over its 50-year existence, GTCC has trained displaced workers to find new careers and armed students with the skills to plug into up-and-coming industries that pay well. A good example is GTCC's aviation program, which prepares students for marketable jobs with airport-area companies such as FedEx, TIMCO and HondaJet.

If voters approve the bonds, the school would build a new northwest campus ($50.5 million) near PTI Airport that would specialize in aviation, transportation and logistics.

In addition, GTCC would buy land to expand existing campuses ($2 million), a prudent investment that would allow purchases as land became available.

A more difficult sell (at least at first glance) is the Jamestown parking deck, which would cost a pricey $12 million. But the only option for the landlocked campus to grow parking spaces is to build "up" and not "out."

Traditionally, GTCC has been viewed as the least glamorous member of the county's formidable higher education community. Today voters seem to recognize the school's vital contributions to the Triad economy.

They can prove it by saying "yes" to the GTCC bonds.

We say: YES

To comment on this editorial, visit the blog Your Voice at the Table.