Legislative House leader pledges help for community college funding

Mississippi Gulf Coast students and instructors attended the Feb. 18 rally at the Capitol. Bottom row, left to right: Kale Hatten, Perkinston Campus; Karmel Keeton, Jackson County Campus; Ashley Seawright, Jackson County Campus; Timothy Henderson Jr., Jefferson Davis Campus; and Romeo Reyes-Carvin, Jefferson Davis Campus. Middle row, left to right: Joanna Kissick, instructor, Jefferson Davis Campus; Ryan Pierini, instructor, Jefferson Davis Campus; and John Speed, Jefferson Davis Campus Faculty Association president. Back row, left to right: Debra Matthews, Jackson County Campus Faculty Association president; John O’Hara, instructor, Jackson County Campus; and Tracy Moore, Perkinston Campus Faculty Association president.

JACKSON, Miss. – The chairman of the House Universities and Colleges Committee pledged to supporters of the 15 community and junior colleges on Thursday, Feb. 18, that state representatives will do what they can to make progress toward mid-level funding in the face of three FY 2010 state budget cuts on top of system-wide record enrollment increases this year.

Rep. Kelvin Buck, D-Holly Springs, told the crowd of approximately 200 community college students and faculty gathered in the Capitol rotunda that House members understand that two-year colleges need funding to provide services when they have double digit enrollment increases in the fall and spring. “Anybody who knows anything about government now knows that if there are priorities on the table, we can find the funds to do what we need to do. We’re committed in the House of Representatives to the importance of mid-level funding,” he said.

In 2007, lawmakers and Gov. Haley Barbour committed to mid-level funding through Senate Bill 2364, a historic measure endorsing per-student funding for community colleges that is midway between per-student funding for K-12 students and regional public university students. The colleges are asking for $64.7 million for mid-level funding in FY 2011.

“All of our colleges are experiencing record enrollment. The demand is there. We see more than just numbers when it comes to talking about a budget, when it comes to talking about education,” Buck said. “We see people. We see families. We see families that are having to pay more for tuition, families that are having to dig deeper in their pockets.”

However, neither Barbour nor Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant gave any hope to college supporters of increased funding this year.

The state officials were speaking Thursday at a news conference called by the 3,000-member Mississippi Faculty Association for Community and Junior Colleges to spotlight the record-breaking enrollment in the face of three budget cuts already this year.

Enrollments at the 15 community college soared in the fall. Preliminary figures for fall 2009 show enrollment was up nearly 10,000 students system-wide from fall 2009, an increase of 13 percent. Eleven of the 15 colleges had increases of more than 10 percent, with the largest increase nearly 20 percent.

That trend continued this spring, with credit enrollment up 16 percent over last spring, said Dr. Eric Clark, executive director of the State Board for Community and Junior Colleges. “Community colleges are the institutions primarily responsible for getting folks off welfare and out of minimum-wage jobs, and letting them make a good living for their families and pay more taxes to their state and local governments,” Clark said. “If you look at the numbers over the past decade, community colleges have been underfunded compared to other parts of our government and other parts of our educational system. That situation has become much more severe in the past 12 months because of our booming enrollment.”

Dr. Willis H. Lott, president of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and chair of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges, commended the community college faculty for persevering through repeated budget cuts and chronic underfunding. “Our faculties are where the rubber hits the road in the classrooms, and they’re the ones making the positive difference in the 85,000 lives of the students enrolled today,” he said. “We are being asked to do more with less. We have 25 percent more people enrolled today than we had two years ago. We are doing more with less because we have less per student. We’re getting less for a full-time student today than we were in the year 2000. That is not responsible support from anybody.”

Mack-Arthur Turner Jr. of Tupelo, a sophomore at Itawamba Community College, shared his personal story of dropping out of school twice but finally receiving his GED high school equivalency certificate and enrolling in a free class at ICC. “I know the impact community colleges have on all our lives,” he said. “This is my story, but it is a story that many people can identify with.”

Students representing Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College at the Capitol were Karmel Keeton and Ashley Seawright, Jackson County Campus; Romeo Reyes-Carvin and Timothy Henderson Jr., Jefferson Davis Campus; and Kale Hatten, Perkinston Campus. Gulf Coast Faculty Association presidents Debra Matthews, Jackson County Campus; John Speed, Jefferson Davis Campus; and Tracy Moore, Perkinston Campus, were also present.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College is a comprehensive institution with opportunities in academic, career and technical programs. With eight locations in South Mississippi, Gulf Coast is on track to serve more than 37,000 credit and non-credit students in the academic year. To learn more, visit www.mgccc.edu, or call 1-866-735-1122.