Free Republic

In 2023, Texas legislators dramatically overhauled how community colleges receive state funding with the passing of House Bill 8. The bill shifts the state’s funding structure to be based on how many hours students are in class instead of by how many students graduate or transfer to a four-year university. Community college leaders welcomed the change with open arms, saying the new system will incentivize degree completion and better workforce preparation. How has it been implemented and how is it going, since it went into effect on September 1st?

Historically, California has always attracted dreamers and today one of the state’s biggest dreamers is Governor Jerry Brown, who once said, “A politician can do anything he wants so long as he manipulates the right symbols.” More likely, a new education initiative of his is about to collide with reality. A critic of Brown once said that he often acts like someone “who feels thinking about something is the same as doing it.” Read more......

It’s one thing for conservative pundits to question the Obama Administration’s latest higher education subsidy. It’s quite another for a writer in The Atlantic to start asking inconvenient questions. “President Obama wants to provide free tuition at community colleges, a proposal that could benefit as many as 9 million students, according to a White House outline of the plan released Thursday,” Fawn Johnson wrote on the Atlantic blog. “But there's one big caveat in the proposal: There isn't plan to fund it, other than to ask Congress for the money.” “Without that crucial piece of the program, which would be...

A Pasadena City College professor is on paid administrative leave after a student alleged the 64-year-old instructor hit him during class. KNX1070′s Vytas Safronikas reports Mark McQueen, who teaches English at the school, was conducting class on October 31 when a student allegedly stood up, shouted expletives and raised his fist. McQueen says he raised his arm to protect himself from a potential blow. The student contends he was struck. Pasadena City College spokeswoman Valerie Wardlaw said Wednesday investigators are looking into the complaint. “It’s the district’s responsibility to protect the safety of all employees and students and to investigate...

March 7, 2011 By Donna Laframboise A few months ago I blogged about a Los Angeles Times story on climate change, drought, and Australia. It was a classic example of how media outlets who are unlikely to take seriously other ‘end of the world’ predictions nevertheless treat climate change speculation as though it were gospel. This past weekend though, the Times redeemed itself. The final installment of a six-part series examining financial and management concerns at LA community colleges finds that $10 million has been wasted on green energy projects. If this squandered cash hadn’t been deducted from the paycheques...

A proposal to cut off access to community college students who linger too long – loading up their transcripts with gym classes, poor grades and far more units than they need to transfer or graduate – has merit and should be explored, the system's chancellor says. A report [PDF] from the state legislative analyst last week recommended giving first-time students a higher priority for class registration, capping the number of taxpayer-subsidized units that students can take and limiting the number of times students can repeat certain courses on the state’s dime – moves that could save an estimated $235 million....

With tens of thousands being turned away from state universities, California lawmakers likely will consider granting community colleges the right to offer a limited number of bachelor's degrees. The shift, which has occurred in 17 other states in the past decade or so, would represent a major philosophical change in California, where the three state higher-education systems have clearly defined roles. Bachelor's and higher degrees are offered by University of California and California State University campuses, while community colleges offer two-year associate degrees and certificates for a variety of professions. However, major reforms must be considered in the age of...

A committee of the North Carolina Board of Community Colleges on Thursday approved a policy that would allow illegal immigrants into the two-year colleges.

Vice President Joe Biden speaks at J. Sergeant Reynolds Community College in Richmond, Va., Thursday, July 16, 2009.

WARREN, Mich. (AP) — Conceding unemployment will get worse before it shrinks, President Barack Obama on Tuesday unveiled a $12 billion plan to help community colleges prepare millions of people for a new generation of jobs. Challenging critics, he said he welcomed the task of turning around the economy. "I love the folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, 'Well, this is Obama's economy,'" the president told an outdoor crowd at Macomb Community College, veering off his scripted words. "That's fine. Give it to me. My job is to solve problems, not to stand on...

(CNN) -- Community colleges are only two-year institutions, but the Obama administration says they could play a key role in helping boost the ailing economy for years to come. "Instead of lining the pockets of special interests, it's time this money went toward the interest of higher education in America," he said

Obama Wants $12 Billion For 2-Year Colleges By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Writer Tuesday, July 14, 2009 President Barack Obama is proposing a multibillion-dollar investment in the nation's community colleges, a $12 billion effort to help the two-year institutions reach, teach and train more people for "the jobs of the future." Obama was outlining his four-part program in a speech Tuesday afternoon at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich. Under the initiative, schools could qualify for "challenge grants" so they'll have money to try new programs, or expand training and counseling. Dropout rates would be addressed by designing programs to...

This afternoon in Michigan, President Obama will announce a new $12 billion, ten-year initiative to improve the nation's community college success and graduation rate. That hefty price tag is sure to stoke some anger on the Hill. Deputy Undersecretary of Education Bob Shireman explains the financing this way, "This would be fiscal year [20]10 money and, assuming that congress does this in the reconciliation bill that will be considered over the next few months, it would be in the first six months of next calendar year." Shireman adds, "Our hope is to include it in a balanced piece of legislation...

Lawmakers are considering new proposals from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to allow community college districts flexibility to use more part-time instructors as part of the state's massive budget-cutting efforts. The options, if adopted by districts, are meant to help campuses maintain a quality education program with less money, said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for Schwarzenegger's Finance Department. "(We want to) give community college districts greater flexibility to manage with fewer resources and try to weather this fiscal crisis as best they can," Palmer said. Schwarzenegger has targeted community colleges for about $800 million in budget cuts as the state wrestles with a...

Only a link is permitted.Obama Says Community Colleges Key to Economy

Even though he didn't get a majority for re-election last year, Gov. Rick Perry's 39 percent was ahead of everybody else. And so he's now in a term that lasts into 2011. In the eyes of some of his detractors in the blogosphere, that's too long. Political activist Linda Curtis has started a website calling on legislators in 2009 to impeach the governor (www.impeachperry.indytexans.org/). That's a pretty rash idea. But since Texas doesn't allow for recall elections, like the one that nailed California Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in 2003, Texans' only way to toss Perry out before the 2010 election...

Protest Over 'Homeland Security U' BY JACOB GERSHMAN - Staff Reporter of the Sun December 24, 2004 Furious students and faculty members at the Borough of Manhattan Community College are demanding that the school abandon plans for a certificate program on security management. They view it as an endorsement of the Bush administration's Department of Homeland Security. Like hundreds of other community colleges across the nation since the September 11 attacks, the two-year CUNY school in Lower Manhattan is hoping to take advantage of the surging demand for security training. The school's faculty proposed a program in May that would...

...When the president released his Fiscal 2005 Budget in February calling for a disciplined budget, some politicians and pundits dismissed it as "dead on arrival." They warned that its spending limits could not be met or would require devastating reductions in key priorities. They were wrong. To the credit of key leaders, the Congress stayed within budget limits and met key priorities. While the appropriations bills are not perfect, they honor the goals President Bush set last February: overall discretionary spending in Fiscal 2005 will rise only 4%, the same as the average increase in American family income. The budget...