An $8.7 million slap for our community colleges

Ann Russell, contributed

The state House of Representatives rolled out some of its budget recommendations last week, and thousands of community college faculty members, staff and students across the state are still reeling from the slap in the face.

The most glaring slap is to raise community college tuition by $7.5 million, which would go straight to the state's general fund, not back to the colleges.

Even small tuition increases harm our already struggling student population. Couple that loss with a $1.2 million reduction in funds earmarked to raise the lowest faculty salaries to legislated minimums, and right off the top, community colleges are taking an $8.7 million hit.

Ironically, funding to private colleges for tuition assistance is being raised in this proposed budget $8.7 million. It seems the House is playing a weird game of Robin Hood: taking from the needy public to give to the private sector.

A request to place one additional counselor on each campus across the state was funded at a level that will provide a total 9.7 positions -- to be divided among 58 community colleges. Our student population is over 800,000. Most are first-generation college attendees who need personal attention to get started and progress to being self-supporting taxpayers.

And while demand for health-care workers is growing exponentially, there was a recommendation of only $2 million for allied health programs. Nothing for technical and vocational education, nothing for biotechnology -- just a long list of nothings. High quality work-force training cannot occur with nothing!

What does this slap really mean?

In the coming year the Community College System will lose 12 presidents to retirement; the system president and executive vice-president are retiring; and if this budget is approved as recommended, a wave of faculty and staff will leave. Many have been hanging on, waiting for the General Assembly to make good on a 2004 promise to raise salaries of faculty and professional staff to the national average.

In 10 years, we have moved from 49th in the nation to 44th in salary ranking. With the proposed 5 percent increase we will slip back a peg or two. Why stay?

This means that we cannot recruit, hire and retain qualified faculty to train North Carolina's work-force. It means the teacher shortage, the nursing shortage, the plumber shortage, the electrician shortage, the radiologist shortage, the lab technician shortage and all the other worker shortages will just get larger. It means key businesses and industries across the state will suffer.

Add a lack of equipment funding and a lack of curriculum improvement funding to the regressive salary picture and it means that a system known worldwide for quality will lose its edge.

It means that the state's economy will suffer as new businesses look elsewhere for skilled workers. It means fewer new taxpayers.

Every person in North Carolina who has benefited from the community college system should be up in arms at the slap delivered by this budget recommendation. And we need to let the members of the House know it.

(Ann Russell is an instructor at Bladen Community College and president of the N.C. Community College Faculty Association.)

For Your Information

HB81--first step toward national salary average.
Click here for details on the bill and who to thank.

Insight into the future?
Click here for brief report on NCCC State Board meeting.

Legislator tells us how to influence the legislature!
Click here for information and names of leaders.

Campus Visits

2005 Curriculum Demonstrations at the NC State Legislature Interested in doing 2006 Demo? Contact Don Wildman at Wake tech.

Virtual Learning Community Study Completed by NCCCFA was submitted to System Office.
See report