Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Community colleges’ budget gets hearing in Salem

Photos and story by Dana Haynes

More than 20 people from throughout Oregon testified Thursday morning in favor of community colleges. And scores more toured the halls of the Capitol.

The Oregon Legislature is discussing community college budgets this week. Gov. John Kitzhaber has recommended a budget of $410 million, total, for Oregon’s 17 independent community colleges and the office of Community Colleges and Workforce Development. That is down from a combined budget of $500 million, two years ago.

Community college officials were in Salem seeking a floor of $425 million for the 2011-13 biennium, saying $410 million would result in tuition increases and the shuttering of academic programs.

Testifying Thursday were, among others, PCC President Preston Pulliams, board member Jim Harper, students, members of the PCC workforce development programs and college business partners.

That includes Alan Sprott, vice president of Vigor Industrial, which contacted with PCC to provide welding training at Vigor’s plant on Swan Island, on the Willamette River.

“More than 80 percent of our new hires have some community college training,” Sprott told members of the Education Sub-Committee of the budget-writing Ways & Means Committee. “Many of our existing workers go back to community college for further training as well.”

Tracee Wells, an employment specialist in PCC’s Workforce Development program, talked about the number of unemployed Oregonians in Multnomah and Washington counties who seek training and employment through the college-run program.

The program serves 4,700 people per year, she said and – in Multnomah County – is finding jobs for more than 200 people per month. Those people are served by the federal program called TANF, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Of those who find employment, 85 percent do not return to the TANF rolls, she said.

Larry Galizio, who formerly taught debate at PCC’s Sylvania Campus, now serves as president of Clatsop Community College in Astoria. He testified as well, saying the $425 million being sought for the 17 community colleges is not enough to serve all students, but would go a long way toward keeping tuition down.

“We’re trying to be realistic,” Galizio told the lawmakers. “We realize you have an impossible job.” He formerly served as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives.

The three co-chairmen of the Legislature’s budget-writing Ways & Means Committee is expected to offer its budget next week.