Community Colleges Panel Discussion
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The Democratic Convention in Idaho Falls held a one-hour discussion panel about Idaho’s community college issues. Remarks were made about Idaho’s “embarrassingly low” rate of high school graduates going into college, and how that won’t work in today’s high technology work force.
Chuck Oxley said community colleges are good for a platform now because the issue received lots of press coverage over the legislature’s failure to do something. Chuck said not everyone is going to become a big scientist, that many students need “practical and applicable” skills for the workforce. Donna Boe said everyone agrees on the community college need, there is just disagreement on the details.
There was discussion of what community college roles and purposes are and the needs they fulfill, such as lower costs or specific workforce certifications (such as for INL or Micron). The question was asked if Idaho should have a statewide community college system to take advantage of economies of scale. Should the system be centralized or locally controlled?
An example of beneficial local control was identified as Dell Corporation may have chosen Twin Falls for investment after College of Southern Idaho (CSI) quickly developed appropriate training programs. Someone said the two most successful Idaho community colleges (CSI and North Idaho College-NIC) want to retain local control to maintain their quality.
A question was asked what the legislative interim committee studying community colleges has done so far. One person on the committee said they had one meeting, and have requested education institutions give reports of what they are, and what works and what doesn’t. They requested legislative reports on community college funding in Idaho and other states. The committee also planned citizen forums in major Idaho cities later this year.
A question was asked if it makes better sense to have a single or multiple authorities. A single authority would essentially create a K-14 education system in Idaho. Someone remarked they would support that only if the Department of Education was in charge and not the Board of Education, which drew audience applause.
One gentleman stood and identified himself as holding two PhDs, and said educational support is just not there in Idaho, as evidenced by taxpayer and legislative actions. He questioned if it made sense to build a community college system in Idaho’s current hostile environment.
Someone mentioned the BSU-West campus in Nampa, and asked if that model of encouraging bigger institutions to develop satellite campuses could be the best stepping stone. Another brought up the problem of online distance education in Idaho where high speed access is not available everywhere.
Chuck said it would be nice if Idaho was not known as the low-income state but rather the education state, which drew applause. One person said they loved academies and would like to see them used more often. They pointed out academies focus high school students on community college-skills like healthcare or technology.
The panel finally closed out without any resolution or agreement.
I recall BSU tech program professors complaining about open enrollments in their program. It sounds nice, that anyone can enroll, but it creates a first-come-first-served waiting list regardless of aptitude. Subsequently, the program had many seats taken by students who could pay the fees but were not necessarily the most apt to do well in the subject. Students who were more apt to do well in the subject were forced to wait several months or even years to get into the program, which caused many of them to move onto other opportunities.
I think local control is essential to ensure community colleges can quickly and appropriately respond to local workforce needs. A new employer looking to build in Idaho Falls needs to know the local community college can quickly form a training program appropriate to that new industry without having to clear red tape from a central authority.
I think Idaho community colleges should be mandated to have an annual meeting to discuss what changes they’ve gone through, what is working, what is challenging them, and what future plans are. This kind of annual meeting would ensure best practices are shared and no community college flounders in isolation.
So far as K-14 education ideas, community colleges would have to be discussed and planned in the context of linear education strategies rather than piecemeal approaches.
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whew, slow day, time to all start commenting again!
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