Reiter hopes business acumen will distinguish him from other candidates

"If managed well, ACC has the potential to become one of the best community colleges in the country because it has all of the resources to make that happen," David Reiter, who is running for place 5 one the Austin Community College Board of Trustees, said.

Understanding management requirements of the board is an important part of Reiter's plans. He became interested in the position through his work with the Austin Chamber of Commerce where he spent three years on an Independent School District task force assessing progress reports for nine Central Texas school districts.

Through this work he thinks he understands what the role of the board should be: accessing performance, ensuring compliance and setting vision. Reiter sees supporting students' access to quality programs as a primary responsibility of the Board of Trustees.
While looking into the academic performance of different school districts, he also learned a lot about where graduates go after high school.

"Higher education is out of reach for a lot of students. A growing number are going to community colleges like ACC," Reiter explained.

Increasing enrollment and the college's growth is generally favored, but Reiter wants to make sure that students aren't negatively affected by irresponsible growth.

To begin, Reiter would like to set up a financially sound expansion plan.

Without an expansion plan to provide facilities in the new taxing districts, Reiter said that the college would be forced to cut services, raise fees, raise taxes or request state funding.

Reiter would also focus on what happens to students once they leave ACC by making sure jobs are available to graduates and tracking student exits.

"ACC doesn't have a good understanding of where students go after leaving. They don't track that," Reiter said. "The students coming out of ACC are good students. They perform better than the ones who start at U.T. – according to U.T."

Tracking exits applies to dropouts as well as graduates.

According to Reiter, the reason for ACC's high dropout rate isn't known because there isn't any follow-up. Reiter suggests putting together a questionnaire or contacting students by phone in order to understand what could be done to prevent a person from stopping their education.

Reiter would also like to coordinate with other local boards so that ACC curriculum, both workforce training and associate degrees, trains students in needed industries. This cooperation will make certain that a student will become an employee in the same field they trained in.

If successful, Reiter foresees a healthy relationship beneficial to ACC students and the local economy.

"This will give [students] a higher standard of living and make the Central Texas economy grow," Reiter said.

This focus on business ties in with Reiter's background that could give him an advantage over the other candidates.

"All of the candidates are passionate about education. I bring a unique set of qualifications. I'm the only business person running," Reiter explained.

In his professional life, Reiter is Vice President of Luminex, a biotech company that, as he happily points out, Forbes recently named one of the 25 fastest growing technology companies. He also has degrees in government from Notre Dame, law and international relations from the University of Southern California and business from the University of Sheffield.

Though his education took him across the world, Reiter is originally from Texas. Reiter and his family fell in love with Austin's culture and natural beauty and, at his wife's urging, they moved to the area about 10 years ago.

He has also been involved with other community efforts including Mobile Loaves and Fishes and the campaigns of Jack McDonald and Mark Strama. Running for Board of Trustees is Reiter's first personal campaign.

"This campaign has been a good experience, very grassroots. There's not a lot of money involved; it's all about meeting people," Reiter said. "It's very refreshing in terms of how the democratic process should work. Most elections aren't like this."

Editor's Note
Candidates running for a seat on the ACC Board of Trustees can contact the Accent at editor3@austincc.edu or 223-3111 for an interview.