Kishwaukee College president skeptical of Obama’s funding plan
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ANNANDALE, Va. – President Barack Obama called on Congress on Monday to create an $8 billion fund to train community college students for high-growth industries, giving a financial incentive to schools whose graduates get jobs.
The fund was part of Obama’s proposed budget for 2013. The overall package aims to achieve
$4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade by restraining government spending and raising taxes on the wealthy while boosting spending in some areas, including education.
Kishwaukee College President Tom Choice said he’s not holding his breath that the proposal becomes reality.
“I hate to be a cynic, but I’ve been through this before,” Choice said. “When he came into office, he said, ‘We are going to invest in community colleges.’ Yet we never saw a penny.”
Obama warned Congress that blocking investments in education and other proposals in his budget will stand in the way of “America’s comeback.”
“By reducing our deficit in the long term, what that allows us to do is to invest in the things that will help grow our economy right now,” Obama said during remarks at Northern Virginia Community College.
The White House says the “Community College to Career Fund” will train 2 million workers for jobs in potential growth areas such as electronic medical records and cybersecurity within sectors such as health care, transportation and advanced manufacturing.
Choice said those are areas Illinois community colleges share a focus. He said he’d like to be more optimistic about the plan, but he questioned where the $8 billion would come from.
“It’s very visionary, he’s on the right track, but I guess I’ll believe it when I see it,” Choice said.
A key component of the community college plan would institute “pay for performance” in job training, meaning there would be financial incentives to ensure trainees find permanent jobs. It also would promote training of entrepreneurs, provide grants for state and local government to recruit companies and support paid internships for low-income community college students.
Obama said community colleges need resources to become community career centers where students learn skills that local businesses require immediately.
“This should be an engine of job growth all across the country, these community colleges, and that’s why we’ve got to support them,” Obama said.
Obama pointed to programs in Louisville, Ky.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Orlando, Fla., as good examples.
UPS overnight workers in Louisville get a tuition-and-book benefit at the University of Louisville or Jefferson Community and Technical College as part of a program designed to help the company recruit and retain workers. Central Piedmont Technical College in Charlotte created a two-year degree in mechatronics, which combines skills in mechanical, electrical and computer fields. In Orlando, Northrop Grumman has aggressively hired laser technicians who complete a program developed by Valencia College because of demand.
• Daily Chronicle news editor Kate Schott contributed to this report.
