hotels, matter to the local agricultural economy. In the northern half, hotels, not ranches or farms, matter to the new tourist economy. Like its neighbor Orange County, Osceola County’s sense of place and community in the 1970s was transforming. That transformation dictated how Valencia would establish its own place in the county. Unlike the original campuses, there was a lengthy process to creating a new campus from what began as a small branch operation. Common to all Florida community colleges when branches were established, the process began with “storefront” classes, followed by designated centers, and then the acquiring and building of a permanent campus. There was no guarantee that a permanent Osceola Campus would follow when the first storefront classes were started, and there equally was no guarantee later that creating the Osceola Center would result in a full campus ever being built. Politics, education, and finance had to be combined and measured to achieve the successful campus outcome all wanted in Osceola County. Each step forward required substantial effort and cooperation from many segments of the Osceola community to overcome pitfalls and roadblocks. For Valencia Community College in Osceola County, that process would take more than a decade to accomplish. That the Osceola Campus exists today is proof of the commitment and dedication of people who worked hard within the College and the community to make it happen. Valencia today is permanently established in Osceola County. It was neither natural nor inevitable that it happened. Valencia always planned to move into Osceola County. From the beginning, the College’s district included both counties. In bringing the College on line, the Board of Trustees and the Craig administration knew Osceola County was to be home to the third major campus. When and where a third campus would be built was not clear when the Board sited the West Campus, but its Kirkman Road location took into account proximity and convenience for Osceola students who would have to commute from the adjacent county. In 1974, Valencia began storefront classes in Kissimmee, the county seat. The Open Campus scheduled and managed the first classes. Opening classes in distant district locations was common among Florida community colleges in that
era. It was good educational practice and good economics. With alternating recessions and booms, and an unstable State taxing structure, funding educational growth in Florida had become an annual battle in the Legislature. Over the next decade, Valencia’s growth continued, mirroring the growth in the numbers of students at all levels in Florida’s educational system. It had become impossible to fund adequately the facilities and financial demands growth was placing on Florida schools, community colleges, and universities. There were reasons for the under-financed and unmet educational needs even beyond the record numbers of students. In 1981, Governor Bob Graham and the State Board of Education adopted a resolution to put Florida’s educational system in the upper quartile of the nation by 1986. Quality issues strained education budgets as much as quantity and expansion. Faculty salaries were scheduled to increase; libraries were upgraded; new courses in science, writing, and math were added to curriculums. Although the State’s senior colleges and universities could control growth costs by limiting enrollments and raising enrollment standards, community colleges could not. Valencia and its sister community colleges struggled to balance higher academic standards and open access to all with a high school diploma or its equivalent. Storefront classes were a viable means to bring services and to offer classes to areas distant from traditional campuses and still control costs. Using mainly part-time instructors, community colleges could open storefront classes as needed in any location. Valencia’s first step toward a permanent campus in Osceola County was to establish a designated center in conjunction with the School Board. Centers, unlike storefront classes, required State approval. The Osceola Center was approved in 1974 and established on Oak Street in downtown Kissimmee. It remained there for nearly a decade. By 1983, the Osceola Center was offering both credit and non-credit classes and had grown to become the largest of Valencia’s several Open Campus sites. That year, 360 mostly part-time students were enrolled. From initial offerings of only a few credit classes and an equally small number of non-credit classes in its early days, the Center was providing 25 non-credit and 22 credit courses.
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