Kentucky First in line for National Standards

This from the Commish in his weekly KDE-mail:

On February 10th, the Kentucky Board of Education will meet to formally adopt the common core standards in English/language arts as part of revisions to the regulation titled 704 KAR 3:303, Required program of studies, and then on the evening of February 10th, an historic joint meeting of the Kentucky Board of Education, Council on Postsecondary Education and the Education Professional Standards Board will occur to adopt a resolution requiring their respective agencies to “integrate the final standards into their work and processes to ensure that all Kentucky students experience a successful and productive future”.

The adoption and implementation of the new standards meets a major requirement of Senate Bill 1 as well as highlights the leadership role Kentucky has played in adopting the common core standards.

Kentucky will be the first state to adopt the standards and our Kentucky teachers will begin to work on translating the standards into classroom and student-friendly language.

The joint meeting will occur at 5:30 p.m., local time, on February 10, at the Kentucky Community and Technical College System offices in Versailles. It will be webcasted and you will be able to access it on KDE’s website through the home page on that date. Tune in and watch history in the making!

KCTCS ends tenure for new faculty

This from H-L:

VERSAILLES — The governing board of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System voted just before noon Friday to eliminate tenure for new faculty members in the system.

Tenured teachers already on staff at the system's 16 community and technical colleges will not be affected.

Faculty members from a number of community colleges turned out to oppose the move, some carrying signs saying "Keep Tenure." Board of Regents chairman Richard Bean warned them at one point that anyone who stood or held their signs above eye level would be removed from the meeting room...

Community college tenure could be ditched under new proposal

Ryan Alessi's move to the Higher Ed beat has produced an immediate jump in quality stories about our colleges. Great move by H-L. Meanwhile P-12 coverage remains uninspired.

This from Ryan at H-L:

The Kentucky Community and Technical College System's board of regents has launched a spirited debate over potentially abandoning the tenure system for future faculty members.

At their meeting Thursday and Friday, the regents are giving a first public airing of the idea of hiring new professors with contracts of up to four years, rather than the tenure track that essentially establishes faculty members for life.

The board can't approve such a move this month because it is up for discussion only and couldn't be acted upon until its March meeting at the earliest, said KCTCS spokeswoman Terri Giltner.

But it is an idea that is being floated as an option to help the system handle "rapid shifts in the job market, emerging new job markets, and state budget cuts which underscored the need for flexibility," according to the board of regents' documents attached to its meeting agenda.

The idea is being met with opposition by the system's faculty members, who worry that ditching the tenure system could hinder KCTCS's chances of attracting top-flight professors to many of its campuses...

Enrollment Drops At Community Colleges and Tech Schools

This from Mark Hebert at WHAS TV:

Versailles, Ky. (Sept. 26, 2008) - Fall enrollment was a major topic of discussion during today's Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) Board of Regents meeting. For the first time in the organization's 10-year history, enrollment did not increase during the fall semester with an estimated 92,175 students compared with 92,828 in 2007.

"This slight drop in enrollment is a direct result of a decline in state appropriations and the Council on Postsecondary Education's decision not to approve our recommended tuition increase," said KCTCS Board of Regents Chair Richard A. Bean. "We can no longer continue to do what was mandated to us in the 1997 Postsecondary Education Improvement Act without appropriate levels of support."

Due to a $13.5 million reduction in state appropriations, KCTCS began the 2008-09 academic year with 240 fewer faculty and staff. KCTCS colleges have absorbed the budget cuts by eliminating academic programs and reducing the number of courses and services offered to students. Specific actions include:

· Elimination of full academic programs on one or more campuses of 10 colleges;
· Enrollment caps in one or more programs at 12 colleges;
· Fewer courses or fewer course sections offered by 14 colleges;
· Raising the minimum number of students required for a class to be offered at 15 colleges;
· Increasing class sizes at nine colleges;
· Reduction in services to students and businesses at 15 colleges;
· Closure of a campus at Gateway Community and Technical College;
· Capping of enrollment at Jefferson Community and Technical College's downtown campus;
· Discontinuation of class offerings at Wayne County High School by Somerset Community College; and

Elimination of weekend operations of the library at Owensboro Community and
Technical College....

But H-L isn't buying it.

KCTCS Threatens to Keep New Buildings Closed

This from PolWatchers:

... "The KCTCS Board of Regents will not approve the opening of any of these new buildings without the necessary operating funds," said Richard Bean of Louisville, chairman of the KCTCS Board of Regents.

"Any new building in the state, if you aren't prepared to open it, you shouldn't build it," Bean said. "It's like building a house, and then you're not able to pay the light bill." ...

...Their threats provoked a caustic response from State Rep. Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, chairman of the House budget committee. He was architect of the proposed state budget that the House approved last week, without including the 12 percent cut Gov. Steve Beshear had proposed for the state universities and community colleges.

"I'm not in the mood to hear whining from higher education about the budget," said Moberly ...

..."We've gone to great lengths to restore higher education" to its current funding level, he said, while some other parts of state government, such as the judiciary, still face budget woes...

KCTCS head says system's needs not met

CRITICIZES PROPOSED BUDGET, WHICH IS $24.5 MILLION LESS THAN REQUESTED

Kentucky's community and technical colleges are the most underfunded part of the state's postsecondary education system and are severely shortchanged in a proposed postsecondary budget for the 2008-2010 biennium, an official said yesterday.

Michael B. McCall, president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, said in Lexington that KCTCS will need an infusion of $32 million in state general fund money every year if it is to reach state-mandated goals by 2020.

That would be more than three times greater than the $7.5 million that the Council on Postsecondary Education recommended for KCTCS in each year of the 2008-2010 biennium.
The council's proposed amount falls $24.5 million short of the KCTCS request.

"The council's recommendation is not enough for us," McCall said....

...Brad Cowgill, the council's interim president, said in a statement: "The council's budget request for higher education balances the objectives of our separate institutions, aggressively seeks adequate funding and promotes essential affordability and accountability. Its total amount is reasonable and it fulfills the council's responsibility under the law to make a unified request for the postsecondary system." ...

This from the Herald-Leader.