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July 2022
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Recap: Texas Commission on Community College Finance
Blog
Recap: Texas Commission on Community College Finance
July 1, 2022
The Texas Commission on Community College Finance met on Tuesday, June 21. Chairman Woody Hunt welcomed the committee and anchored the discussion by highlighting the critical role community colleges play in filling workforce needs of the state.
The Commission heard presentations from the following speakers (their slides are linked):
Commissioner Harrison Keller (THECB) –
Update to Commission
Dennis Jones (NCHEMS) –
Linking Funding to State Goals
Dr. Steve Head (Lone Star College) –
College Operations Workgroup Update
Dr. Benda Hellyer (San Jacinto College) –
Student Support Workgroup Update
Dr. Mark Escamilla (Del Mar College) –
Workforce Education Workgroup Update
Elizabeth McGee (Intel) –
AI for Workforce Program
Dr. Erica Yu (UT Health) –
Workforce Panel Testimony
Dr. William Serrata (TACC) –
Workforce Panel Testimony
Victoria Hoover, LaKristie Davis, Isabel Torres, and Christina Navarro (TX Community College Student Advisory Council) –
Written Testimony
Dr. Lori Taylor (TAMU) –
TXCCCF Research Team Update
Members of the Commission participated in key discussions to ensure that recommendations for adjustments to the funding formulas promote the goals of
Building a Talent Strong Texas
, including prioritizing greater workforce alignment, recognizing credentials of value through funding formulas, and recognizing high priority student populations.
Commissioner Harrison Keller (THECB) ebegan the meeting with a discussion about redesigning community college funding formulas to drive student outcomes from individual institutions of higher education to help bolster workforce development and meet regional and state workforce needs. He shared the results of a listening session conducted by THECB, which includes Philanthropy Advocates member Dr. Wynn Rosser of the TLL Temple Foundation. See Commissioner Keller’s
slides
highlighting key takeaways of the listening session, specifically slide 9 with suggested next steps on refining policies and finance impacting community colleges.
Dennis P. Jones with
National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS)
presented on varying funding structures the Commission could consider implementing. He noted that regardless of how institution produces awards (degree, non-degree, continuing education, etc.), the finance structure needs to prioritize credentials of value. This comment is aligned with the new THECB state higher education strategic plan, which sets forth a goal for higher education institutions to prioritize offering credentials that lead to sustainable, in-demand jobs. Members of the Commission asked Mr. Jones questions about how to contemplate taxing districts and revenue sharing in finance models.
Commission Work Groups provided updates reflected in their slides. Key takeaways included:
Consideration of THECB serving as a broker of shared services
Desire to revisit how to support small and rural colleges
Discussion that House Bill 3 (2019 school finance reform bill) could be better aligned to higher education finance
Questions posed about how to address dual credit
Desire for data alignment between preK-12 through the workforce
Several points in the discussion reflect questions Philanthropy Advocates has asked through our
commissioned
research
to better understand the challenges students face in systems alignment across high school, postsecondary, and the workforce.
Following work group presentations, several presenters shared programmatic examples of higher education and workforce alignment. Dr. Serrata, President of El Paso College and chair of the Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC), presented TACC’s recommendations for the Commission to consider. See TACC’s recommendations in the appendix of Dr. Serrata’s testimony
here
.
Members of the Texas Community College Student Advisory Council presented their experiences as current students to the Commission. Students shared challenges with transportation and childcare costs that cause barriers to pursuing higher education, noting that tuition is one piece of a broader conversation related to affordability. One student recommended the Commission consider providing greater financial support for wraparound services. Another student noted that workforce education students are an integral part of the state’scommunity college system, indicating their success impacts the local and state economy.
Finally, Dr. Lori Taylor, Professor and Head of Public Service and Administration Department from Texas A&M University and member of the Texas Community College Finance Commission Research Council provided an
overview
of ongoing research commissioned by THECB. She spoke to a decline of students taking academically oriented courses out of high school but found no decline with dual credit students, noting that it appears more students pursued dual credit while taking courses at home during the pandemic.
Watch the presentation
.
Here are the next steps for the Commission this fall:
September 12 (Austin) – To presentation draft recommendations from the Commission
October 18 (Austin) – To present and approve final Commission report
November — Final report will be sent to Governor, Lt. Governor, and the Texas Legislature
We have provided time segments of the meeting with notes on the discussion. The full meeting is available to watch
here
. Access presentation slides from the meeting
here
.
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