College annexation goes to ballot

By Editor | July 15, 2026 |

By Marc Robertson

Voters in La Salle County will be asked in November whether to allow a Uvalde-based college to establish a campus in Cotulla as it expands across South Texas communities.

Southwest Texas College, previously known as a junior college, has attracted students from high schools across the region for decades and has now established satellite campuses or online instruction facilities in several towns, including Pearsall, Hondo, Del Rio and Crystal City.

In its latest move, SWTC has sought petitions from residents in La Salle and Dimmit counties for freestanding college campuses to be built in Cotulla and Carrizo Springs. The process involves a series of public hearings before the issue is put to the vote in the November general election.

Should voters approve the college campus in Cotulla, they will do so by voting to have La Salle County annexed into the SWTC District, enabling the institution to levy a property tax that will pay for the building and related expenses in starting educational programs.

That tax is presently pegged at a legally permitted maximum of 12 cents per $100 of property valuation, which equates to approximately $100 per year for the owner of a family home valued at $87,000. The levy may later be lowered but cannot be raised by more than a fraction without voter consent in a further election.

The college district has indicated it can expect to raise approximately $10 million for its new campus through property tax revenues in La Salle County alone.

Addressing community members in the La Salle County District Courtroom on Tuesday, July 7, College President Hector Gonzales said he believes vocational courses at a Cotulla campus extension of SWTC would be in high demand as local high school graduates take advantage of low-cost tuition in advancing their education towards lucrative careers in the energy industry, construction, truck driving, and healthcare.

Students attending the college’s Uvalde campus and commuting 148 miles round-trip per day are presently charged the standard out-of-district rate for tuition. That rate stands at $180.25 per semester credit hour.

If included in the district by voters approving La Salle County’s entry into the expanding reach of SWTC, students will pay only $110.25 per semester credit hour, Gonzales said, adding that free tuition is also made available in scholarships to local high school graduates who continue their education in the next semester at the college.

The college district noted in a publicity brochure related to the annexation plea that savings to students living in the district could amount to more than $1,000 for a 12-credit full-time enrollment semester.

If built in Cotulla, the college would employ between 10 and 15 staff members in at least three courses of instruction, which could include commercial driving licenses, electrical lineman licensing, and courses related to various skilled medical careers.

“This is in-person tuition,” Gonzales said of the courses, striking a difference between campus and online training. “They will be welding here. They will be doing law enforcement academy here.

“Four years ago, the school could not have done this,” the college president said of the proposed SWTC expansion. “But the law changed, allowing us to be outcome-based.”

Gonzales said the district’s goals for a college campus in Cotulla are focused entirely on meeting the demand for skilled or licensed members of the South Texas workforce, and courses will be limited to those fields of study, instead of a full curriculum.

“Cotulla can’t sustain ten programs,” Gonzales said. “The courses we offer are sustained by the demand and by state funding.”

He added that a projection for the Cotulla campus includes enrollment of at least ten students in each class. Healthcare-related studies, he added, will likely not include registered nursing (RN) or licensed vocational nursing (LVN), as they require clinic and lab facilities that a satellite campus cannot provide.

“In order to have RN or LVN programs, we have to secure clinical sites,” Gonzales said. “We have to be cognizant of that. We don’t want students driving sixty miles to a clinic.

“Cosmetology is an option,” Gonzales added, noting later that the district expects to rotate courses to accommodate various demands. Truck driving courses, he said, may be offered each quarter of the year.

“Truck driving is a four-week course, and lineman training is an eleven-week course,” he said. “We can rotate these vocational programs.”

The campus, if approved by voters agreeing on college district annexation, will include a classroom building of up to 20,000 square feet with instruction and office space, and a construction cost for the complex ranging between four and seven million dollars.

Technical labs at the new campus would include facilities for welding, air conditioning, construction science, powerline technology, cybersecurity, and oil and gas-related workforce credentials, Gonzales said, such as pipeline operations, instrumentation, meter technology, industrial safety and others.

Flexible instructional space may accommodate courses in law enforcement and detention facility officers, he added.

The college district’s promotional brochure outlining the benefits of La Salle County annexation touts the potential effects on the community and on the possibilities for those who pursue higher education locally.

“The proposed workforce training facility has the potential to generate both economic and community benefits throughout the region,” the college indicated. “Expanded access to local workforce training and technical credentials may help retain students and skilled workers within the region. Increased local employment opportunities and workforce preparation could contribute to higher earnings, stronger local spending, and broader economic activity.”

Gonzales estimated that daily operations at the campus after it is built may cost less than half a million dollars per year. The 12-cent tax levy, he added, may be decreased once the college is operational.

A Cotulla High School teacher said she believes the campus will directly benefit those who want to remain and work in the community or in the energy industry.

“I taught seniors last year, and I probably had five who wanted to go into lineman training at another campus,” Cissy Allen said at last week’s public hearing. “This would be a tremendous program for them here.

“I’m the first one to say that the first thing you have to do is to get a post-high school education,” she added.

“We have to invest in our children if we want to move forward,” Cotulla Mayor Sandra Luna said of the college expansion to La Salle County. “We want them to have a reason to stay, to get the good jobs, and to move the community forward. Take our citizens into account and let’s try to make this work.”

Members of the La Salle County government present for the hearing and voicing support for the college expansion included County Judge Leodoro Martinez III, county commissioners, and County Treasurer Maria Perez. Also putting their support behind the project were Cotulla ISD Superintendent Dr. Ramiro Nava, members of the school district board of trustees, local law enforcement and emergency responders, and several local residents, landowners and business owners.