Thank you.  As always, it is a pleasure to be in Greensboro, the home ground of Guilford Technical Community College. I hope many of you have seen the excellent and well-deserved coverage North Carolina's community colleges and especially Guilford Tech have received in the recent issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. I'll say more about that in a few minutes. Suffice it to say that congratulations are in order, all the way around.

When I accepted the invitation to speak to the association today, I noted that one of the topics that you wanted me to address was a legislative update.

Until last week, I had planned to say, "They're still there, nobody is quite sure what they're doing, and maybe it's just as well!"

What a difference a week makes! Our lawmakers finally agreed on a budget for the current fiscal year; Governor Easley has signed it; and the General Assembly has adjourned this "short budget session." Whew.

Now don’t get me wrong. Having been a state legislator and a congressman, I know and appreciate the hard work of lawmaking. I respect the men and women who give up family and work time to serve our state in this part-time, citizen legislature.

However, I also understand how difficult it is for you to do your jobs, when you don't know exactly what that job is supposed to be, and how it's going to be paid for.

Now that we have had a couple of days to catch our breaths, I can help clear up some of that, I think, at least from the perspective of the community college system.

First, the task of the community college is what it's always been -- it's about jobs. Community colleges equip North Carolinians for real jobs with real futures. Community colleges provide North Carolina's industries with quality workers. Community colleges help the economy move forward by growing new jobs with the promise of great futures. North Carolina's community colleges are colleges that really work, and they are North Carolina's most vital tools in the struggle to rebuild our economy.

Second, we are going to be able to pay for things perhaps a bit better than we thought we were a few weeks ago.

Understand that I am not dancing for joy with our current situation. Last year was without a doubt the worst financial year in the history of the North Carolina Community College System. We endured budget cuts, experienced a reduction in force, and had to chop out classes. We also had unprecedented enrollment growth -- driven by our success in demonstrating that we ARE the front lines for economic recovery. Tens of thousands of laid-off workers are streaming through our doors. Faculty and staff are underpaid and overworked.

But you know what? Strange as it may sound, this is in fact a time for us to be counting our blessings, in the world of community college education.

In spite of this impossible situation, our colleges continue to provide an exceptional education experience and world-class workforce training.

We recently received the Critical Success Factors for 2000-2001. This report reminds me that even though we continually receive less than we need, we are truly an exceptional organization. We succeed because of the tremendous leadership and proud stewardship demonstrated on each and every campus. The report is impressive and you all deserve a pat on the back for what you did and continue to do.

We put people to work. Unemployment is high in North Carolina, but for community college graduates, employment statistics continue to be impressive. Even when the performance standard was adjusted for local unemployment, every community college exceeded its standard for 2000-2001. Overall, 97.7 percent of 1999-00 graduates were employed within one year of graduation.

Just last week, a major national study added to the evidence that your good work puts people into good jobs. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that The Workforce Strategy Center singled out North Carolina's community colleges…and particularly praised Guilford Technical Community College…for consistent success in using community college education and training to move people out of poverty and into the middle class…and above. The Center's report cited outstanding leadership from college presidents and state policy makers; coordination regionally with local non-profits and employers; and imaginative use of existing federal and state money. The Center's co-director, David Gruber, says:

"All the research has shown that education, particularly higher education, is the surest route to improved wages and a focused, flexible college-based pathway provides one of the best ways to move people out of poverty."

We prepare quality employees. Businesses and industries that receive community college training services rate them extremely high. Survey responses show that customized training had a 99% satisfaction level among responding employers on 2000-2001. We have been and continue to be the nation’s best in workforce preparedness.

We provide an exemplary educational experience. Our students, whether seeking certificates, diplomas, or degrees, report extreme satisfaction with their community college experience. Every community college except one met its 2000-2001 goals for completer satisfaction. That one college made a significant improvement over the previous year.

We prepare students for four-year excellence. Our college transfer programs provide educational experiences that allow students to make a successful transition to a baccalaureate program. Our graduates who transfer to UNC campuses do just about as well as students who start out at the university. Seventeen community colleges met performance standards here, and 24 additional colleges showed significant improvement over last year’s performance.

And we worked together this year to demonstrate to Governor Easley and to the General Assembly that the kind of education that you provide deserves more support, not less.

Given that we were facing what looked like unprecedented disaster, we came out pretty well -- better than we expected and better than most of state government outside of education.

The budget passed by the General Assembly and signed by Governor Easley does provide money for our enrollment growth. Because of the way we're funded, the $51.8 million for growth pays for LAST YEAR'S growth. Get ready to hear about this again, because of course the numbers are going up and up and up.

The budget also includes more than $7 million to continue summer term funding. This is a major accomplishment. At one time, that funding was on the block for elimination, and we faced a very difficult task in restoring it.

We also received more than $1.2 million to support community college use of the North Carolina Information Highway, which provides fiber optic connections for data and for two-way video, including many distance learning courses. That's less than we requested, but enough to keep us operating.

Did we escape with no cuts? In a year like this, that was impossible. Your conference this week focuses on professional development. Unfortunately, we've taken deep cuts in programs for faculty to earn degrees and advanced degrees. Travel funds, which enable you to attend meetings like this, are extremely tight.

Salaries continue to be an incredible frustration. Despite all of the hard work, good intentions and hints of progress in recent years, salaries in North Carolina's community colleges, especially for the faculty, are mired on the bottom rung of any ladder you can find. In the southeast, only Arkansas trails us. Nationally, one of the Dakotas is worse off than North Carolina and Arkansas…and that's about it.

This year, the only raises were for public school teachers, and they were small. State employees and community college employees got no raises, period, for the first time in ten years. What we did get is…two extra weeks of paid vacation. That might be a nice idea, but it's a little hard to work it in, when staffs have already been cut, and in community colleges, there's no money to pay for it. The grinding concern over salaries and our growing inability to recruit and retain top faculty and staff remains an enormous gap in our list of legislative accomplishments.

Balance the new money against the cuts, though…and the bottom line for community colleges came out in the plus column this year….$26 million worth.

How did that happen? Because everyone in the community college system worked together to demonstrate to the Governor, to his advisers and to the General Assembly that North Carolina's community colleges are the front line in the struggle to rebuild our state's economy.

North Carolina's community colleges are about jobs.

North Carolina's community colleges are colleges that really work…for our students, for business and industry and for the whole state.

I thank you for your part in proving our case, through the great work that you do. Keep it up…because next year will be at least as demanding as this past year…and we truly will have to start all over again making the case! Remember that this year's elections in the new districts are very likely to produce a General Assembly very different from the one we had this session.

I'll be happy to take your questions.