Colleges push for more state money

Students and faculty flood into Annapolis trying to get lawmakers behind a bill to boost spending on community colleges

Friday, Feb. 17, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Susan Whitney-Wilkerson⁄The Gazette Dana Bowser (left), multicultural affairs director at Chesapeake College, was among the throngs of students, faculty and administrators who lobbied legislators Wednesday to increase spending on Maryland’s 16 two-year colleges. The community colleges are contending with higher enrollments, but the money is not keeping with demand. Click here to enlarge this photo Susan Whitney-Wilkerson⁄The Gazette The full Senate is behind a bill proposed by Sen. Patrick J. Hogan to boost the funding formula for community colleges, and a House version has dozens of sponsors. ‘‘The role of community colleges is going to be much more significant than it has in the past as a provider of higher education,” Hogan told community college advocates on Wednesday.

‘‘It’s the toughest degree I ever got,” said Heller (D-Dist. 19) of Silver Spring, a 1962 graduate of what is now the state’s largest community college, Montgomery College.

As more high school graduates and nontraditional students enroll in the state’s 16 two-year institutions, lawmakers say it’s time to ratchet up state spending to match that demand.

But advocates who say the state has not kept up with that growth point to the lack of aid in Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s spending and construction budgets.

To that end, Sen. Patrick J. Hogan and 46 senators — the entire chamber — are backing legislation that would alter the state’s community college funding formula, which is named after the late Sen. John A. Cade.

Community colleges — except for Baltimore City Community College — receive 25 percent of the per-pupil funding that the state’s four-year institutions get. Hogan’s bill would change that formula to 30 percent over five years.

Statewide, community colleges will receive nearly $206 million through the Cade formula in fiscal 2007, which begins July 1. In total, nearly $241 million is dedicated to community colleges.

Ehrlich’s capital spending plan includes more than $51 million for community college projects — about $7 million short of what was requested, said Clay Whitlow, executive director of the Maryland Association of Community Colleges.

If adopted, Hogan’s proposal would cost $8.1 million in fiscal 2008, steadily increasing to $38.3 million in fiscal 2011.

‘‘The role of community colleges is going to be much more significant than it has in the past as a provider of higher education,” said Hogan (D-Dist. 39) of Montgomery Village.

Heller, primary sponsor of a similar House bill with dozens of co-sponsors, said community colleges have ‘‘always been a stepchild in higher education in this state.”

Rising tuition at four-year schools, coupled with more adults returning to the classroom, has increased enrollment at community colleges and put greater demands on administrators to do more with less.

In turn, community colleges are being forced to raise tuition, threatening their mission of providing affordable and accessible education, Hogan said.

With the Senate solidly behind his bill, Hogan urged proponents to keep applying pressure.

‘‘One would think that’s a slam dunk,” he told a roomful of community college students and faculty in Annapolis on Wednesday morning. ‘‘Don’t be so sure.”

Leaders in both chambers predict that the Hogan-Heller bill will have an easy ride.

‘‘Our community colleges are our first line of defense in terms of higher education, and we need to do more and we can do more,” said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach.

About 400 students who stormed legislators’ offices on Wednesday in support of the Senate bill and increased funding for capital projects sought to put a public face on the plight of two-year institutions.

‘‘What kind of message does it send to students if you don’t support their growth or development?” asked Lewi Gilamichael, student body president of Montgomery College’s Rockville campus.

Ehrlich (R), who addressed students on the steps of the governor’s mansion Wednesday afternoon, did not set aside any design money this year for construction of a new $63.8 million biosciences center at Montgomery College’s Germantown campus that would be part of a 40-acre business park.

Advocates said putting money into community colleges is a worthy investment of state dollars that should have received priority over other less profitable projects, such as two minor league baseball stadiums.

‘‘Unless you want the students to attend classes in the minor league stadiums, that’s ridiculous,” Hogan said.

Later, he softened his stance. ‘‘I’m not saying they’re the worst projects in the world, but it’s a matter of priorities.”

An Ehrlich spokesman said the governor has not taken a position on Hogan’s bill, but he indicated support for the measure in a statement issued through his press office.

‘‘I am a firm believer in our community colleges, their mission, their potential and their students,” Ehrlich said in a statement. ‘‘Our budget surplus gives us greater flexibility to fully fund community colleges this year.”

Sen. Thomas McLain Middleton (D-Dist. 28) of Waldorf, a 1966 graduate of what was then-Charles County Junior College, said the state has short-changed two-year schools in the past, which has led in part to the need for more classrooms.

‘‘I think it goes without saying that capital funding for community colleges is way, way underfunded,” he said. ‘‘We’re not doing the planning and getting the projects online fast enough.”

Community colleges also are important because their programs are tailored to workforce needs, such as a shortage in the nursing profession, said Sen. Roy P. Dyson (D-Dist. 29) of Great Mills.

More students are turning to community colleges after being rebuffed by the University of Maryland, he said, calling it an ‘‘unintended consequence” of the academically improving flagship institution.

Inadequate funding makes it difficult for community colleges to accomplish their mission, said Reginald Swann, a student at the College of Southern Maryland in La Plata.

‘‘It’s like building a pyramid from the top down,” he said.