Delta College pulls funding for proposed Galt campus

San Joaquin Delta College will not be building a satellite campus in north San Joaquin County any time soon, as the Board of Trustees voted 5-2 to pull the remaining $15 million from Measure L funds on Tuesday night.

When Delta College was first approved for $250 million from Measure L in 2004, the college purchased land in Lodi with the intention of building a campus in the area, according to Lodi City Councilman Mark Chandler, who said that the property was held in escrow for years before Delta sold the property and purchased land in Galt.

“Ever since Richard Vasquez unseated Dr. Taj Kahn as the trustee for the Lodi-Galt area, he has done nothing to push Lodi issues. This decision is extremely unfortunate because Lodi has a lot of potential for expansion. We’ve decided to look to other two-and four-year colleges for partnerships now,” said Chandler.

Vasquez could not be reached for comment.

Lodi Chamber of Commerce President Pat Patrick was not surprised by the decision, saying that this has been a pattern for more than 10 years. College Lodi, a small group of Lodi citizens, has been looking into collegiate programs with other colleges that might be interested in building a satellite campus in Lodi, according to Patrick, although he said that it is too early to name any specific schools.

“The economic and cultural impact on a small community like Lodi, if it had a college program, would be tremendous, so we hoped that Delta would make good on their campaign promises from 2004. But just because Delta doesn’t want to build a campus here, doesn’t mean that we’ll stop looking for alternatives,” said Patrick.

The main reasons for the decision to pull the funding were a lack of money for existing projects and a lack of growth in the Lodi-Galt area, according to Delta College Trustee Steve Castellanos. Delta has chosen to focus on updating its existing campuses, with fire safety and disability access taking top priority.

“This doesn’t mean we’re giving up, we’re still working to expand class offerings in Lodi and Galt to increase enrollment, such as dual enrollment with the high schools. We also want to offer classes in the evenings and whenever else we can,” said Castellanos.

Bill Huyett, a former Lodi Unified School District superintendent, who served as chairman of a committee that advocated for a Lodi campus, was extremely disappointed in Delta’s decision. Although he did express his appreciation for Dr. Catherine Mathis and Carlos Huerta, the two Delta trustees that voted to retain the funding for a north county campus.

“They are forward-thinking people who support Delta serving the community. Lodi has the second largest population in Delta’s area, but plans for a Lodi campus have not been greeted warmly by the trustees ever since the first failed attempt in 2008. Richard Vasquez is not in favor of a Lodi campus, and our group has never found him to be supportive. We will continue to press for it, but Delta does not seem to be interested in expansion or outreach,” said Huyett.

Mathis, a Stockton-based OB/GYN who practices at Lodi Memorial Hospital once a week, opposed the decision to reallocate the remaining Measure L funds as she felt that Delta should keep its original promise to build a campus in Lodi. Delta will hold onto the land it purchased in Galt for the time being, she said, but the classes offered at existing facilities such as Estrallita High School will need approximately 1,000 full-time students before Delta considers building a campus in the area.

Delta will offer new classes at Estrallita this fall, according to Galt Joint Union High School District Director of Educational Services Sean Duncan.

“While we are disappointed in Delta’s decision, we hope that when they see more enrollment in the classes at Estrallita, that will motivate them to reconsider building a Galt campus in the future,” said Duncan.

In the meantime, Galt Joint High School District graduates will attend community colleges such as Cosumnes River College and American River College in Sacramento as they have for years, according to Galt City Councilwoman Paige Lampson, who works as a long-term substitute teacher in the district’s high schools.

“I don’t think it’s very insightful of the board. The future is to get the full district involved in the Delta community, especially when some of our council members worked so hard to pursue a campus in Galt and our residents are paying taxes on that bond,” said Lampson.