President’s Report
to the
State Board of Community Colleges
February 21, 2002
Since we last met, additional "more bad news" has come down with regard to the state’s financial picture. However, the Governor heard our pleas for help and reduced our funding by a lesser percentage than other state agencies. Our total reversion at this point will be 2.96 percent. Other state agencies will experience a 7 percent reversion. We have been informed that we should plan on additional permanent cuts in this short session budget. This will be a topic of discussion at future State Board meetings. I sincerely believe that we will not meet the requirement for significant permanent cuts without eliminating some functions or services that we are now providing here in the System Office and on our campuses. That will be a difficult set of decisions for you to make.
We continue to work hard on finding the funds to begin the media campaign to reposition or rebrand our System in the minds of policy makers and the public. Meetings with potential major funders of this campaign are underway. Filming has been completed for the ads and production work is now underway.
Under the leadership of Dr. Ed Wilson, President of Wayne Community College, we continue the dialogue with the North Carolina Dental Society with regard to licensure of dental hygienists and expansion of our programs.
Mike Ward, Molly Broad, Hope Williams and I have met and are continuing the dialogue on how all of the education sectors can more closely cooperate to address the teacher shortage crisis the state faces. Of course, that was the significant topic at this year’s Joint Board meeting.
Staff involved in nursing education and I met with Brenda Cleary of the NC Center for Nursing with regard to an alarming and dangerous proposal that is being developed as a part of "FutureThink" with regard to the nursing profession. This "think tank" has as its purpose to look at the future of nursing in North Carolina with a proposed elimination of the Practical Nurse completely, reducing the responsibilities of Associate Degree Registered Nurses to make them "technical nurses," and boosting the training and prestige of Bachelor of Science nurses. This will decimate our program by reducing enrollment dramatically (Who would want to be a glorified Practical Nurse with two years of training?), will reduce the prestige and salaries of the very fine registered nurses we now produce, will exacerbate the crisis of nurse availability, and will create tension between nurses across the state. I will be mounting an effort to kill this proposal before it advances any further. We could use your help.
At the recent Emerging Issues Forum, speaker after speaker gave special recognition of the Community College System and the important role we are playing in supporting biotechnology industry in North Carolina. It was music to my ears!
Earlier this week I spoke at Sampson Community College to a gathering of business leaders who will be solicited for private funds to significantly expand a vocational and technical training building that will be built on that campus with bond funds. Bill Aiken has done a good job in involving the business community in planning this facility and in helping them to understand the need for more resources than are available from the bonds.
Last Friday, David Price and community college leaders held a press conference using the Information Highway to announce a major appropriation that Congressman Price obtained for our System to enhance our Information Highway offerings. We appreciate the recognition of the importance of our program and the great assistance this appropriation will be.
Dr. Saundra Williams and her staff continue the System’s Strategic Plan Review. Dr. Larry Gracie has developed and implemented a Virtual Environmental Scan process to gather information for this review. Using Web technology for gathering this information will save significant time and travel. We had a very positive response to this "virtual scan."
The College Information System implementation continues on course and on schedule. Phase 2A colleges are preparing to begin using the financial system in July. Thanks to you we will meet our schedule for the training that the Finance Committee presented for your approval at this meeting.
Dr. Williams was the guest speaker at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education Conference in Atlanta, speaking on "Developing and Supporting Women in Senior Level Positions in Higher Education."
Dr. Scott Ralls led a weeklong "Economic and Workforce Development Orientation" program for new and transitioning college staff. Sixty-one college representatives from thirty-one different colleges attended these sessions.
Dr. Ralls is working in collaboration with the Rural Center, the Governor’s Office, and representatives of the Department of Commerce and the Employment Securities Commission on dislocated worker issues. This is especially timely since North Carolina has gone from the twelfth-best unemployment rate in the nation in 1999 to the fifth-worst, with our worst unemployment in rural counties.
We are pleased to announce that preliminary figures indicate that the passing rate on the EMT Basic State Exam has reached 80 percent for the first time. This is approximately a 25 percent increase in passing rates over the pass three years.
Dr. Delores Parker and her counterpart at the University of North Carolina, Dr. Gretchen Bataille, continue to work closely on issues of cooperation between our two systems, especially in the field of teacher preparation. The Transfer Advisory Committee will be looking at the pre-major agreements for an education major to make certain that it is supportive of this collaborative effort.
Our System Office workshop, "Enhancing Student Success," has been received by 35 community college campuses. Each campus had from 30 to 150 faculty/staff members participate in learning to make their campus more inviting for student success. On March 15, each college will send a team to Guilford Technical Community College to discuss ways to implement their college’s strategies. Dr. William Purkey of UNC-Greensboro and other national leaders will participate.
Kennon Briggs and his staff have had their hands full monitoring the state’s precipitous fall in revenue and cash availability. This has been an added burden on top of the normal budget development process that would be underway for the short session.
Meetings with regional business managers, senior staff, and other members of the community college family have been involved in developing budget reduction scenarios that we will be discussing later.
Kennon and his staff have again presented to the Bond Oversight Committee on bond and Historically Underutilized Business expenditures.
Kennon and his staff have also been involved with the implementation of the College Information System from a financial standpoint.
Dr. Steve Scott presented to Representative Eva Clayton and her staff at their planning retreat on the role of community colleges in economic development.
Continuing the interest of foreign countries in our community college program, Dr. Scott organized with the assistance of Audrey Bailey presentations by other vice presidents and community college visits for three members of Her Majesty’s Treasury from Great Britain. They were in this country to learn how to fill skills gaps and set productivity targets for adult education and workforce development.
Steve made a presentation at the Education Commission on the States (ECS) meeting in Washington, DC, talking about our economic and workforce development mission in North Carolina. This is another recognition of the excellence of our programs. I hasten to add that all expenses were paid by ECS.
In conclusion, let me urge you to participate later this month in the North Carolina Workforce Development Summit to be held in Greensboro. The Summit is sponsored by NC Citizens for Business and Industry, the NC Partnership for Economic Development, the NC Economic Developers Association, the Rural Center, and the NC Department of Commerce. Speakers will include Governor Easley, Lt. Governor Perdue and Senator John Edwards, as well as national workforce and economic development experts. Please see Scott Ralls if there is any chance you can attend.
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