Feb 22, 2005 By Rick Martinez 3 min read

HARRISBURG – Trying to match their new role as “major players” in the state education system, the leaders of Pennsylvania’s community colleges came together Tuesday to demand a governing board like that enjoyed by universities. The 15-member board would, for the first time, allow community colleges to band together and directly ask the Legislature for money, instead of having to go through the Board of Education. The board also could accept and approve budget requests from each community college and submit one budget for all of them.

Or, as several college presidents said at the Capitol press conference on House Bill 8, it would for the first time since the system was founded more than 40 years ago allow community colleges to speak with a single voice to Harrisburg.

“It would be helpful for community colleges to have a seat at the table,” said the author of the bill, state Rep. Jess Stairs (R-Acme). “It would allow them to be more forceful and allow them to be heard.”

Stephen Curtis, president of the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges, stressed that need to be heard by saying 365,000 students are enrolled in the state’s community colleges, a figure that has grown 25 percent in the past few years.

“We should be rejoicing,” said Curtis, who is also president of Community College of Philadelphia. “But the other side of the coin is that we’ve had issues with unpredictable funding.”

To that end, the bill would revise how the state pays for community colleges so it doesn’t slip below the one-third share it is supposed to pay. (The other two-thirds is split evenly between tuition and local, often county, support.)

House Bill 8 also lends a hand for the college’s capital debts – like for new classrooms and the equipment to put in them – and gives “relief” from auditing that the presidents said unfairly singles out community colleges.

A similar, if less expansive, bill passed the House last session only to stall in the Senate. Stairs warned this new bill also faces opposition, particularly from the Rendell administration. Another hurdle is that the governor just asked for a $21 million funding increase for community colleges in his new budget and lawmakers may be loathe to offer more.

The governor’s press secretary, Kate Philips, said the administration is still opposed to the idea of a separate community college governing board because it is trying to build a unified K-12 education system.

“This would make that more difficult,” she said. “It would be an added layer of bureaucracy that doesn’t enhance the system.”

James Linksz, president of Bucks County Community College, said it is a problem that community colleges are dependent on the state Board of Education to speak for them in Harrisburg.

“We don’t see this [bill] as opposing the Board of Education, but the board has other priorities, namely K-12 education,” he said. “There is no question that community colleges are a stronger force in 2005. The stage is set for community colleges to be a major player.”

One of Linksz’s colleagues, Community College of Beaver County President Joe Forrester, said his situation offers an example of why community colleges need legislative help.

Three years ago Beaver County took over sponsorship of his college and injected an extra $600,000 a year into the campus. But at the same time, state funding began to erode. As a result, today the college’s funding is roughly the same as it was three years ago.

Rick Martinez can be reached at 717-705-6330 or rmartinez@calkins-media.com.