By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
At the December Kansas Association of Community College
Trustees (KACCT) meeting, the board passed their upcoming legislative agenda.
The KACCT supports an advocates for all the community colleges in the state.
Heather Morgan, KACCT Executive Director, said last year the two-year community
and technical sector was fully funded for the first time in the history of
community colleges.
The KACCT has also advocated for a re-centering of funds for community
colleges. For the past decade, some schools received more than their share in
state funding and some received less.
Barton Community College was one of the institutions that received less, but they
saw a significant bump during the last school year.
"The schools who have been overfunded will start to receive a cut in this next budget cycle," said Morgan. "Whatever they are overfunded will receive a 50% cut. Next year at this time, they will receive whatever they are supposed to receive."
The state’s financial formula for colleges is based on headcounts. Last
February, Barton Vice President of Administration Mark Dean said if Barton
received what it was supposed to receive, the college would gain over a million
dollars in state funding.
Morgan said Barton, and other community colleges, could receive another financial
boost to help get students into the workforce.
"There is a request in the KACCT budget for a pool of funds for schools like Barton and others, who do a significant amount of technical education, would be able to tap into to help support building and programs," said Morgan. "That is one of the things that's in our governor's budget request."
Presenting at Tuesday’s Barton Board of Trustees meeting, Morgan said KACCT
will attempt to get legislators familiar with the need to focus on education
for critical need jobs.