Cover Story: Community Colleges

Below: A student at Wake Tech in Raleigh studies in a chemistry lab

Community Colleges Get Much-Needed Funding Increase

Long considered the state's red-headed stepchild of education funding, the N.C. Community College System — thanks to some creative financing and concerted lobbying efforts — came out a winner in the budget approved by the General Assembly in July.

The legislature agreed to cut employers' unemployment insurance taxes by 20 percent and then impose a 20 percent “training contribution” tax, four-fifths of which will go to community colleges to upgrade technology and worker training programs. The new fund will generate $113.7 million over the next three years.

Martin Lancaster, president of the community college system, credits the budgetary success to several factors: “We developed a strategic plan that served as the blueprint for our budget request, and the thin
g that was most critical was that in doing so we had the support of all the stakeholders, trustees, the state board, students, business and industry, presidents and faculty.”

By including all these entities in the strategic planning process, Lancaster said, it was the first time a request for funding had strong and unified support across the state.

“We are also grateful for the generous assistance of (NCCBI Chairman) Phil Phillips, (NCCBI President) Phil Kirk, (NCCBI chief lobbyist) Leslie Bevacqua and (NCCBI Economic Development Committee Chairman) Sen. Jim Broyhill, who spent days with us working in the General Assembly,” he added.

Phillips, Kirk and Broyhill visited many key legislators in their Raleigh offices, accompanied by President Lancaster and Bevacqua. NCCBI made community college funding a top legislative priority this year, at the behest of Phillips.

“We're pleased that business and industry can pay for part of these people's training,” says Kirk. “It's no secret that community colleges have been in dire need of funding. This legislature has provided a giant step forward. It's the first session in anyone's memory that community colleges have done so well.”

Funds will be used to purchase new equipment, to create industry-focused training, and develop regional cooperative programs. “We need all sorts of machine tools and computer assisted drafting technology,” Lancaster says. “We're trying to create a 21st century workforce with equipment that was state of the art in the 1940s.”

Another priority is the salaries of faculty and staff, who, although receiving a 2 percent increase over the 3 percent all state employees received, still are paid substantially less than many public school teachers and community college instructors in other states.

“The gap in salaries continues to be a challenge and it will remain a priority until it is adequately addressed,” Lancaster adds.

The legislature also allocated $18 million for more support staff —financial aid and admissions counselors, librarians, for example — and other costs like computer maintenance, software upgrades and supplies. For years the system paid those costs by transferring funds from faculty salaries. Lancaster says the $18 million appropriation means that more money will be available for additional salary increases and more faculty positions.

The General Assembly also approved an increase in continuing education fees and tuition, which actually allows students to apply for federal financial aid previously unavailable to them because the tuition was too low.

Kirk says that the legislature made a “dramatic improvement” but that the effort to maintain adequate funding for community colleges will need to be sustained well into the future. The law which provides for the 20 percent training tax has a sunset, meaning it will expire in less than three years.

“I hope that the community college system will do better in the regular funding process in the years to come,” Kirk adds. “The training they provide is one of the top selling points that recruiters use to attract new business and industry to the area.”

The North Carolina Community College System enrolls more than 710,000 students in 58 community colleges and one specialized technology center, the N.C. Center for Applied Textile Technology. The system is the state's primary provider of workforce training and education, adult education and basic literacy services.

N.C. Community College System Net Budget Increase in FY 1998 to FY 1999:

• Alamance CC $334,895
• Asheville-Buncombe TCC 1,669,990
• Beaufort County CC 746,513
• Bladen CC 417,127
• Blue Ridge CC 1,004,748
• Brunswick CC 328,234
• Caldwell CC and TI 780,672
• Cape Fear CC 2,020,645
• Carteret CC 324,638
• Catawba Valley CC 1,128,579
• Central Carolina CC 1,821,183
• Central Piedmont CC 1,401,736
• Cleveland CC 457,525
• Coastal Carolina 1,090,753
• College of Albemarle 335,519
• Craven CC 345,735
• Davidson County CC 574,626
• Durham TCC 1,081,971
• Edgecombe CC 432,905
• Fayetteville TCC 134,501
• Forsyth TCC 1,410,954
• Gaston College 27,923
• Guilford TCC 1,217,526
• Halifax CC 428,860
• Haywood CC 606,906
• Isothermal CC 713,253
• James Sprunt CC 650,509
• Johnston CC 588,239
• Lenoir CC 727-931
• Martin CC 96,907
• Mayland CC 197,298
• McDowell TCC 365,466
• Mitchell CC 701,576
• Montgomery CC 229,215
• Nash CC 1,017,972
• Pamlico CC 281,828
• Piedmont CC 835,973
• Pitt CC 1,504,546
• Randolph CC 687,643
• Richmond CC 1,420,815
• Roanoke Chowan CC 252,080
• Robeson CC 1,101,164
• Rockingham CC 238,873
• Rowan-Cabarrus CC 1,635,092
• Sampson CC 705,381
• Sandhills CC 407,582
• South Piedmont CC 2,234,818
• Southeastern CC 600,308
• Soutwestern CC 407,509
• Stanly CC (161,769)
• Surry CC 432,968
• Tri County CC 408,444
• Vance-Granville CC 2,041,782
• Wake TCC 3,669,627
• Wayne CC 980,548
• Western Piedmont CC 627,714
• Wilkes CC 275,912
• Wilson CC 354,118
• Total $46,356,986

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