SAN MARCOS — A month after Palomar College officials celebrated the completion of a major piece of its $644 million building campaign, the same officials broke ground on the next projected funded by Proposition M.
Officials celebrated the ceremonial groundbreaking of the college’s new Early Childhood Education Lab School, formerly known as the child development center. The three-building facility, slated for the north side of the 200-acre campus, will house 123 students and staff when completed in 2017.
The 70,000 square-foot facility will include three buildings, housing seven classrooms, offices and other rooms, five play yards with slides, tunnels, bridges, climbing ramps and other areas.
The current center serves 100 pupils from ages 18 months to kindergarten. School officials only recently expanded the offerings to include a transitional kindergarten and kindergarten program in September, and there is already a waiting list for the programs.
Almost all of the families served by the center received subsidized services, with the amount of subsidy based on income level.
College officials said the groundbreaking marks the beginning of the end of the Prop. M building campaign. The proposition, which voters approved in 2006, has already resulted in several major milestones on campus, including a brand new health science building, the renovation of the school’s theater, a brand new student center and the humanities building, which was completed during the fall.
