Looking forward, AACC will ask Congress to take other action to support two-year colleges this year. One example is another U.S. Labor Department grant program for community colleges. In February, the Obama administration recommended termination of this $125 million initiative, Career Pathways Innovation Fund, saying it would duplicate the purposes of AGI. Now two-year college leaders are pushing for restoration of this funding.
The Obama budget also called for terminating the $103 million tech-prep program for activities linking high schools with community colleges. His budget would combine this program with state grants for career and technical education. Congress has resisted previous attempts to remove tech-prep as a separate line item in the federal budget.
After finishing the reconciliation bill, Congress likely will turn its attention to the federal budget for fiscal year 2011, which begins Oct. 1.
Meanwhile, at the signing to make the student loan changes law, Obama offered community college leaders hope by announcing that a White House summit would be held this fall on community colleges, which he called “one of the great, undervalued assets in our education system.” The conference of educators, students and business leaders will be led by Dr. Jill Biden, the vice president’s wife and an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College.
- Community College Jobs