One of the oldest community colleges in California, MJC has two main campuses in the city of Modesto and serves more than 18,000 day and evening students each semester.
Located near the city of Sonora in the wooded Sierra Nevada foothills, Columbia College is a primary resource of adult learning for residents throughout the Mother Lode region.
This survey summary was prepared by True North Research.
Yosemite Community College District (District) is dedicated to the success of its students and to the development of the communities it serves. By providing career and technical education programs, undergraduate degrees, university transfer courses, and certificate programs at Modesto Junior College and Columbia College, the District helps more than 30,800 students and returning veterans each year receive the education, counseling, and skills training they need to succeed and help strengthen the local economy.
In 2004, the District asked voters for assistance in funding the repair, renovation, and upgrade of college classrooms and facilities by passing a general obligation bond: Measure E. In addition to the $326 million raised by Measure E, the District has been able to leverage additional state matching funds and make use of other resources to construct new classrooms and make priority repairs and improvements. Despite these investments, however, substantial repairs and improvements remain for which the District does not have a funding source. In addition to needed improvements to deteriorating roofs, plumbing, infrastructure, and electrical systems, there is a pressing need to construct, repair, and modernize classrooms, career-training facilities, labs, and instructional technology at Modesto Junior College and Columbia College to improve student and veteran access to affordable, high quality education in science, technology, engineering, healthcare, agricultural science, and skilled trades. To adequately fund its ongoing facility needs and access additional State matching funds when they become available, the District will need the financial support of the communities it serves through the passage of a local bond measure in 2026.
Yosemite Community College District commissioned True North Research to conduct a statistically reliable survey of voters who are likely to cast a ballot in the November 2026 election to measure community opinions and gauge voters’ interest in supporting a local bond measure to fund the facility construction, repairs, and improvements noted above. Respondents were selected for the study using a stratified and clustered random sampling method, which ensured that the profile of the sample matched the profile of the likely November 2026 electorate on key characteristics that are related to voting behavior (i.e, age, gender, partisanship, and household party type). The survey was administered using a mixedmode design which employed multiple recruiting methods (email, text and telephone) and provided respondents multiple ways to participate in the survey (telephone and online) in their preferred language (English and Spanish). During the data collection period (March 26 to April 6, 2026), a total of 911 voters participated in the survey, resulting in a maximum statistical margin of error due to sampling of ± 3.2% at the 95% level of confidence.
The survey results indicate that voters have a positive opinion of the quality of education provided at Modesto Junior College and Columbia College, consider improving the quality of education and ensuring local access to affordable high quality college education and career-training to be among the most important issues facing the community, and are generally supportive of the proposed bond measure. Rating the Quality of Education When asked to rate the quality of education provided at Modesto Junior College and Columbia College using a five-point scale of excellent, good, fair, poor, or very poor, approximately seven-in-ten voters surveyed rated the quality of education at as excellent (28%) or good (42%), 15% offered that it is fair, and 4% rated it as poor or very poor. The remaining 11% of voters surveyed were unsure or unwilling to offer an opinion (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Quality of Education
When presented with the list of issues shown in Figure 2 and asked to rate the importance of each, creating jobs and improving the local economy received the highest percentage of respondents indicating that the issue was either extremely or very important (88%), followed by protecting the quality of education (87%), ensuring local access to an affordable, high quality college education and career training (81%), and improving public safety (79%).
Figure 2: Importance of Issues
On the natural, 58% of voters indicated they would support a bond measure that would raise up to $735 million to repair and construct classrooms, labs, and career-training facilities at Modesto Junior College and Columbia College to improve student and veteran access to affordable high-quality education in science, engineering, healthcare, technology, agricultural science, and skilled trades, and fix deteriorating roofs, plumbing, and electrical.
Figure 3: Ballot Test
Voters clearly see a need for the projects that could be funded by a bond, as every potential use of bond proceeds tested in the survey was favored by at least three-quarters of voters surveyed (see Figure 4 on the next page). That said, the improvements that resonated with the largest percentage of voters were improving and expanding training for firefighters, paramedics, public safety specialists, and other class offerings at Columbia College (86% strongly or somewhat favor),1 upgrading career-training facilities and equipment so students are prepared for in-demand careers in advanced manufacturing, auto technology, welding, and skilled trades (86%), constructing an Emergency Medical Training Center to train the firefighters, paramedics, and public safety specialists our communities need (84%), and upgrading science labs and classrooms so students are prepared for in-demand careers in fields like nursing, biotech, and health sciences (83%).
Figure 4: Projects & Improvements
