With the toll that the economic downturn and budget difficulties have taken on Virginia's public colleges, voters also will be asked to decide in referenda on Tuesday whether or not to support the General Obligation Bond that would provide $846 million in funding for construction and other capital projects at museums and higher education institutions across the state.
Of the $846 million that the education bond would generate over the course of the next six years, $68.3 million would pay for specific construction and renovation projects at the University. The largest of these initiatives to be financed by the bond money includes a $25 million medical research building called MR-6, a new Arts and Sciences building included in the South Lawn Project and an engineering building for nanotechnology research.
Also included in the bond package is a second, $119 million referendum that will appear separately on ballots in November for parks and open spaces.
In a visit to the University in September, Gov. Mark R. Warner asked students to support the bond for the sake of future University students and the school's national reputation.
"You're benefiting today because people 10 years ago voted on a bond package just like this," Warner said. "It is incumbent upon you to make sure that we do the same for the next generation."
University President John T. Casteen III has joined Warner and public college administrators across the state in supporting the bond issue, calling it a "compromise that looks to the future," during Warner's visit.
Casteen added that the bond issue would have "a tremendous impact on community colleges" in the state, which serve as not only the largest source of transfer students for the University but also, he said, provide the state's labor force with constant retraining and updating.
Passage of the bond would be a feather in the cap for Warner, whose term as governor has suffered a string of setbacks because of the recession and budget shortfalls.
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