When Mayor David Coss, just three months ago, said it would take a miracle for the city to keep the College of Santa Fe alive, he was putting things mildly:

The Christian Brothers' school was mired in debt — and doubt about its chances of greeting any students this fall, especially after it officially closed its doors. Out-of-work professors were suing for breach of contract, while weeds closed in on the campus south of St. Michael's Drive. Lobbying attempts at state takeover went nowhere with the revenue-strapped Legislature.

It was Coss who proposed buying the campus with city revenue bonds — and nailing down an agreement with someone to run the place. The most likely "someone," nearby state colleges to the contrary, appeared to be a for-profit educational company based in Baltimore, known as Laureate.

Time being of the essence, the City Council pretty quickly gave staff and some contract attorneys authority to at least negotiate a deal that would include a lease on the school's 100 acres.

The days went agonizingly by — but, miraculously, lots got done in what, for an undertaking this big, was a truly short time.

On Monday, the council's Finance Committee approved issuance of $30 million in bonds — and a lease agreement with Laureate. Now it's up to the full council, where six votes will be needed to approve such a commitment.

On paper, and in terms of what our community could gain, it's a about as good a deal as we can get:

Laureate signs a 26-year lease on 61 of the acres and most of the buildings, paying more than $2 million a year in rent — enough to meet the city's debt payments. The company would have an option to buy, but that might depend on its success in reviving the school.

Aiding this complex transaction is Gov. Bill Richardson's commitment of $11 million — and as the deal emerges, it's looking like the kind of investment in economic development the city's been needing, with low-level risk that the bonds would have to be covered by gross-receipts-tax revenues.

Lots of details are left to work out — the worth of artworks left on campus, the land's future if the for-profit operation doesn't make it, and where the Christian Brothers, whose organization founded CSF, will live while their order finds homes for them.

The paintings, sculptures and photographic work are being appraised as you read this. The brothers, it seems certain, won't go homeless. As for the future of the campus land, the city could zone it for educational purposes — which might even include eventual extension of the state archives now occupying adjoining land.

But not now; the first challenge is the school year soon to begin: Laureate, as part of its $20 million commitment, has a dozen profs lined up — to serve the
50 to 100 students expected to show up; an enviable faculty-to-student ratio. The company's ambitions include, say, 600 students within a couple of years, a financial break-even number, maybe 4,000 a decade from now.

Under the Laureate system, students can move among its many campuses worldwide — and Santa Fe being the international attraction it is, there's potential for overnight growth.

Gone is the chance for Santa Fe Community College kids to walk onto CSF as upper-division students paying their previous school's low tuition — but New Mexico students would be in for a 20 percent discount. And there'll be no faculty tenure, which, down the road, could be a bone of labor contention; for now, though, year-by-year contracts might mean higher-quality teaching than certain other schools offer. A ver ...

City Manager Galen Buller and Finance Director David Millican have outdone themselves with their caution-guided alacrity. It merits council support.

The mayor doesn't have the six votes locked up; four councilors seem to favor the deal, a couple are unsure and two others are doing their predictable grandstand version of Hamlet while they ponder a run against Coss for mayor next spring. Pretty clearly he's beaten them to the punch — but they'd be crazy to vote against the best chance Santa Fe has to save the college.