from staff reports



JACKSON – Members of the Mississippi Legislative Budget Office, chaired by Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, were presented Wednesday with the community colleges’ request for FY11 funding, including the system’s three top priorities — mid-level funding, capital improvements, and Dropout Recovery.

The presentation was headed by Dr. Scott Elliott, president of Meridian Community College and vice chairman of the Mississippi Community & Junior College Association. He was joined by Dr. Clyde Muse, longtime president of Hinds Community College and former Superintendent of Meridian City Schools; Dr. William Lewis of Pearl River Community College; Dr. Eric Clark, executive director of the State Board for Community & Junior Colleges (SBCJC); and George Walker, chairman of the SBCJC.

Among legislators serving on the LBO is Sen. Terry Burton, R-Newton, who represents District 31 comprised of Lauderdale, Newton and Scott counties.

Specifically, the community colleges requested $64,704,536 in additional monies for mid-level funding; $191,000,000 in bond monies for capital improvements; and $13,849,500 for the Dropout Recovery initiative.

Mid-level funding is a measure already conceptually approved by the Legislature (Senate Bill 2364 in 2007), but has yet to be fully funded. Under mid-level funding, each community college would be funded on a full-time per-student basis at a mid-level between what is appropriated to the K-12 and university systems. The $64,704,536 request represents about half of what would be required to achieve that mid-level.

On capital improvements, the community college system features 24 campuses and almost 1,000 buildings across the state. In addition to many of those buildings needing repair and renovation, the colleges have a need to construct new facilities, given the all-time record number of students who have enrolled this fall and who are predicted to enroll in the future.

The Dropout Recovery initiative is designed to produce GED graduates with viable job skills. Currently, the Legislature is appropriating $100,000 in support for the program for each of the state’s 15 community colleges. However, the colleges desire to enhance the current GED program with fast-track job training and “wrap-around” support services, such as transportation and child care assistance and stronger tutorial programs.

In beginning the hearing, Elliott said, “We (community colleges) want to be part of the solution (to the state’s economic woes). We know that times are very tough and that funding all state agencies adequately will be a tremendous challenge for the Legislature in FY11 and beyond. However, we also believe that the community college system should be a funding priority because we’re the agency that has the best chance to make an immediate and positive impact on the economy by producing workers with contemporary job skills. People with jobs contribute to the state’s tax base; however, it’s just about impossible to land a job in today’s marketplace without specific skills.”

Clark added, “In Washington, the President and Congress have declared that community colleges are the vehicle to grow the American middle class, aiming at five million more college graduates during the next decade. Mississippi needs to step up and show its determination to contribute to that goal.”

Adding to their challenge, the two-year colleges are now absorbing a five percent budget cut, or $13 million, in the fiscal year that began July 1. Those cuts range from $374,333 for Coahoma Community College to $1.65 million for Hinds Community College. MCC’s cut exceeded $700,000.

“This budget cut presents a real challenge for us to continue to deliver quality programs and services to an unprecedented number of students,” Muse said.



By the numbers



• In mid-September, statewide community college credit enrollment was up more than 9,500 students, a 13 percent increase over last fall.

• The average annual cost of tuition and fees at community colleges is $1,836 for 2009-10, about 61 percent less than tuition and fees at a public university in Mississippi.

• 73 percent of community college credit students are enrolled in academic programs and eligible to transfer to a four-year institution.

• 68 percent of all freshmen in both public and private institutions of higher learning in Mississippi are enrolled in community colleges.

• With counting workforce training and adult basic education, the 15 community and junior colleges are serving more than 275,000 people annually, nearly 10 percent of the entire state population.

• 65 percent of today’s jobs depend on skilled workers who have at least two years of education or training beyond high school.

• 26 percent of the adult population in Mississippi (25 years old and older) does not have a high school diploma or GED.

• More than 5,300 GED tests were taken successfully at the 15 community and junior colleges in FY 2009, an increase of more than 500 over the year before.