Coalition Backs Patrick On Community College Plan
Patrick administration officials and business leaders rallied on Thursday to correct what they said were misconceptions about the governor's plan to realign oversight of the state's community colleges, saying Massachusetts needs to adapt to the needs of the job market to remain competitive.
"We unabashedly are seeking a community college system that allows Massachusetts to also be responsive to the workforce needs of the 21st century knowledge economy and allows the commonwealth to better compete with state's like Virginia and North Carolina that have such aligned systems," said Paul Grogan, president of the Boston Foundation.
Members of the Coalition for Community Colleges were joined by key Patrick administration officials to advocate for Gov. Deval Patrick's budget proposal to align community college curriculums and consolidate budgeting for all 15 campuses under the commissioner of higher education.
While not offering criticism of specific campuses, speakers said degree requirements should be comparable for every community college and credits should be easily transferable. Labor Secretary Joanne Goldstein said the governor also wants to make community colleges the "epicenter" of job development with a greater investment of state funds, noting that currently only 11 percent of job training dollars go to community college campuses.
Patrick has proposed increasing direct state funding for community colleges by $10 million and pledged to seek an additional $10 million in investments from the private sector.
"I think it will be a very easy $10 million to raise," Grogan said.
The governor's proposal would centralize budgeting for each campus in the office of the commission of higher education, consolidating the annual appropriation into a single line item and giving the state a role with community college boards in selecting the leadership at each campus.
‘Exaggerated Fears'
"I think there was a lot of misunderstanding about what we actually were proposing. For example, there were exaggerated fears that this was some sort of a state power grab that we wanted to take over the system and run it from Boston. Nothing could be further from the truth," Education Secretary Paul Reville said.
Critics of the governor's plan, including community college presidents, have expressed concerns that consolidating control under a state agency would limit their flexibility to work with employers in their regions. Some opponents have also suggested that Patrick's focus on job training would come at the expense of academic subjects that prepare students to go on to four-year colleges.
Reville said the governor wants to expand on the community colleges' mission and takes it for granted that the two-year schools will continue to give students a core academic foundation. He added that he believes "opposition is fading."
"I think it's important because those who opposed it, particularly early on, have been very vocal in their opposition and have used the considerable access they have to the Legislature to make their views known and the business community has not been as focused on this over the last couple of months," Reville said.
With the House preparing to release its budget blueprint for fiscal 2013 next week, Grogan said he expects the Ways and Means Committee to address the governor's recommendations in some fashion.
"I think there will be something there. I'm not sure what yet, but there will be something there," Grogan said.
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