The report said that the colleges are hurt by low graduation rates, cuts in state funding and a lack of accountability.
Community College presidents in Western Massachusetts include, clockwise from top left, William Messner of Holyoke Community College, Ira Rubenzahl of Springfield Technical Community College, Paul Raverta of Berkshire Community College and Robert Pura of Greenfield Community College.Presidents of community colleges in Western Massachusetts are taking exception to a new report that calls for overhauling state governance of the schools to improve the way they train students for jobs.
The report says a central board should govern the state's 15 community colleges and that local boards of trustees should only be advisory. Trustees for the colleges are currently given broad powers to manage personnel and business at the campuses, said the report.
Robert L. Pura, president of Greenfield Community College, said the college boards are comprised of leaders in the region who know the needs of businesses and people in the area. Pura said local trustees should keep their current powers.
"We're not called Greenfield State College," Pura said. "We're called Greenfield Community College for a reason."
The report, labeled "The Case for Community Colleges: Aligning Higher Education and Workforce Needs in Massachusetts," was financed by The Boston Foundation, a civic group and major provider of grants to nonprofit organizations.
The report said that the colleges are hurt by low graduation rates, cuts in state funding and a lack of accountability.
The report called for central control of the colleges and presidents at a state board in Boston. States with community colleges that are known to be highly successful workforce and economicdevelopment engines—including Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginiaand Washington—all operate through strong centralized, state-run community college systems that are governed separately from other higher education systems, the report said.
The budgets of the colleges, now individual line items, should be consolidated, the report said. Operating money should be distributed based on a fair and open formula that rewards performance, achieves savings through efficiencies and accounts for enrollment, capital needs and labor costs at the campuses, the report said.
"The ultimate goal is for community colleges to play the
role of powerhouses when it comes to meeting critical labor market needs, as they do in a number of states," the report said. "To date, Massachusetts has not been successful in achieving the significant, large-scale system reforms that would be necessary for them to fulfill that role."
State legislators would need to approve a bill to change governance of the colleges or the way they are financed each year by the state.
Authors of the 40-page report interviewed about 50 higher education and workforce experts, civic leaders, community college presidents, employers, industry group representatives, workforce agency professionals, community-based organization leaders and representatives of state and local government, just about all located in Boston or the metro area.
Community college presidents in Western Massachusetts said the report would have been more complete if the authors had visited campuses in the region and talked with local hospital or other business leaders.
"I'm concerned the focus of the work was Greater Boston, yet the conclusions are broad-based across the entire system," said Paul E. Raverta, president of Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield who was the only college president in Western Massachusetts interviewed by the authors.
Ira H. Rubenzahl, president of Springfield Technical Community College, said that changing the governance structure of community colleges won't accomplish much.
Rubenzahl said community college presidents are pleased that the report is drawing attention to the critical role of the campuses. He said community colleges are doing a good job in workforce training, but he added that they could do a better job.
Rubenzahl said the community colleges have absorbed deep state budget cuts over recent years. Enrollment and costs are rising at the colleges, but state funding is dropping, including a 10 percent cut this fiscal year, he said.
"That's a critical issue for us -- funding," Rubenzahl said. "When you look at community colleges in Massachusetts, it kind of jumps out at you."
William F. Messner , president of Holyoke Community College, said it would be counter-productive to reduce the authority of local boards of trustees.
"Some of the recommendations are off the mark," Messner said.
Messner noted that community colleges in Massachusetts won a $20 million federal grant in late September to improve their workforce training programs for industries that would benefit from technical skills.
Messner said the colleges worked together in applying for the grant and each campus will share in the grant.
"We didn't do that because some super board told us to do it," Messner said.
Paul S. Grogan, president of the Boston Foundation, said he is not surprised that presidents are concerned about losing some of their independence if authority over the colleges is consolidated.
Grogan said the most recent data shows that only three of the 15 colleges had graduation rates above the national average including Springfield Technical Community College and Berkshire Community College.
Grogan said the colleges are critical. He said the report is a clarion call for a renewed sense of purpose and mission for the colleges, allowing them to receive more support from employers and the elected leaders that control the state budget on Beacon Hill.
"We don't think this is a just a Boston issue," Grogan said.
A top author of the report, Julian L. Alssid, executive director of the Workforce Strategy Center in New York, a think tank that works on aligning colleges with regional economic needs, said he interviewed people who constitute a "who's who" of workforce development experts in Massachusetts.
Alssid said community colleges are individually accomplishing many good things.
"How do you bring it to scale in a big way?" he said. "That's the intention and spirit."
