During the Aug. 20 meeting of the Oregon Coast Community College (OCCC) board of education, Oregon Community College Association Executive Director Andrea Henderson provided an overview of recent legislative activity affecting Oregon’s community colleges, and also spoke about the association’s goals for Oregon’s future.
On the legislative front, major focus areas include ongoing pursuit of capital construction funding and increased operating funds; and increasing the availability of student financial aid.
“I think we had a good legislative session. Overall, we’ve made significant progress in all areas,” Henderson said. “One of our challenges in the future will be looking more extensively at what the needs are: I don’t know if we’ve brought the Legislature to the place yet where they really understand the need for capital construction,” dollars earmarked for facilities renovation and construction.
Henderson noted the final budget of $500 million - while still less than the sought $529 million - was “significantly over the $428 million” budget originally proposed. Additional community college funding may yet be allocated during the Legislature’s February session; including, perhaps, monies for the construction of OCCC’s shared use facility in South Beach, a building to be utilized by the college’s aquarium science program as well as researchers and educators attached to the Oregon State University Hatfield Marine Science Center.
Financial aid for community college students “has been a huge priority” for Governor Ted Kulongoski, who moved an additional $42 million into the community college financial aid budget, Henderson continued. “Under the current system, a community college student can receive between $1,100 to $1,300″ of his or her tuition through financial aid. Under the new budget, “they will be able to get full tuition,” she said. “Sixty-one percent of the total budget will go to education.”
While the state’s community college system is still recovering from severe funding cutbacks enacted by the state legislature from 2002 to 2004, the Oregon Department of Workforce Development and Community Colleges has, nonetheless, set its goal of bringing the number of Oregonians who hold associate’s degrees or have some college education up from the current level of 33.4 percent to 40 percent by 2025.
The department is also working to raise the number of residents who hold bachelor’s degrees from the current level of 27.7 percent to 40 percent; and has tacked on the vision of bringing the number of Oregonians who do not hold high school diplomas from the current 12.5 percent to zero.
“If that is the goal, what do we need to achieve that goal? That’s really the first conversation we’d like to collectively have amongst the colleges,” Henderson said. “The governance of community colleges belongs at the local level; the question becomes, how do we have conversations and make decisions on a statewide level? Perhaps it’s a matter of deliberately having those conversations.”
Accountability, she continued, is also a high priority. “Local boards are responsible for meeting benchmarks on a local level; perhaps we need to ask the board members, ‘What does accountability mean? Who is accountable to whom and for what?’ We need to define those questions” to bring local and state boards in alignment and “bring focus to legislative goals.”
By presenting a unified front, the Oregon Community College Association “can really establish community colleges in a way that, I think, will make it far more difficult for legislators not to fund us,” Henderson said.
In other board business:
€ Senitila McKinley, volunteer executive director of Seashore Family Literacy and Education Center in Waldport, presented to the board about the numerous educational opportunities the center offers to area residents of all ages, and commented on how she looks forward to sharing space with OCCC in the coming months. The college’s south county campus will be temporarily located at Seashore - itself located within the Community School Partnership Building (the most recent former location of Waldport Middle School) - until construction of the new south campus facility is completed.
€ OCCC Finance Director Greg Holms reported the college’s small business management program recently underwent a federal audit, and “we passed,” he said. “On Aug. 14, the State of Oregon performed a program review of their funds as well, and had nothing to report” beyond satisfactory findings, he added.
€ Following what OCCC board member Chris Chandler DiTorrice described as “stellar” performance reviews, the board voted to direct OCCC Legal Council Peter Gintner to draft a three-year contract retaining the services of OCCC President Pat O’Connor.
€ Bob Clapp, a founding member of the Oregon Coast Community College Foundation board of directors, noted the board is seeking area residents interested in supporting the college’s development through volunteer service on the board, especially residents from the south county area. The foundation is a non-profit entity that provides support for the college’s programs and manages a diverse range of scholarship funds. Its members hail from throughout Lincoln County; however, Clapp noted participation from south county residents was currently at a low.
“It is a working board. There are some boards that meet four times a year - this one, you will be going to meetings,” he said good-naturedly. For more information about the foundation, contact Executive Director A.T. Ronan at 574-7131 or atronan@occc.cc.or.us.
Laura Eberly is a reporter for the News-Times. She may be reached at 265-8571 ext. 217 and lauraeberly@newportnewstimes.com
