Sen. Greg Adams addresses community college funding formula dispute

LINCOLN -- Sen. Greg Adams, Chairman of the Legislature's Education Committee, held a Press Conference earlier this afternoon, Tuesday, March 9, 2010, to discuss the progress that has been made toward resolving the current community college funding dispute. Sen. Adams provided the following statement:

"For over two years, Nebraska's Community Colleges have been working to find a solution on state aid to these six institutions. As Chairman of the Education Committee together with the members of the committee and other leaders in the Legislature, I am pleased to report that all six Community Colleges have chosen to resolve all immediate issues, pending formal Board of Governors approval, and have further each committed to reach agreement on a long-term funding formula to be implemented by the Legislature during the 2011 session.

More specifically, Metropolitan Community College has made the decision to dismiss its lawsuit against its peer institutions and rejoin the Nebraska Community College Association following the passage of a bill, and subsequent enactment into law, this session, the terms of which all six community colleges have agreed upon. The statutory and non-statutory provisions of the agreement, are as follows:

(1) The current funding formula in statute today shall terminate on June 30, 2011. All six colleges have committed to work together and find unanimous agreement on a funding formula that will be implemented in the 2011 legislative session;

(2) The current Nebraska Community College Association structure shall terminate on June 30, 2011. All six colleges have committed to work together and find unanimous agreement on a new structure for the Association and will have it implemented no later than July 1, 2011;

(3) All six colleges will be held harmless from current funding formula impact for any changes made to student tuition for the 2010-2011 school year;

(4) Metropolitan Community College shall receive a total of $1.8 million from the five other community colleges on a pro-rata basis in lieu of changes to the formula for the 2010-2011 school year; and

(5) All six colleges have committed to reaching an agreement on the distribution of state aid for the 2010-2011 school year funding formula calculations, subject to my committee's consent. This agreement shall be reached within 7 days for inclusion in the bill this year.

This has been an extremely difficult process for all six of our community colleges, and I want to personally recognize each college President and the representatives from each Board of Governors. We have a community college system Nebraskans can be proud of--each college is committed to providing the highest level of service and allowing students to accomplish career goals and achieve success in life.

I am a believer that a good education opens doors in life and is the cornerstone of our state's future success. I'm proud that these schools are prepared to return to the table and reach final consensus on state aid issues and refocus all efforts on providing the very best education possible to their students.

I am also proud of our Unicameral. As a member of the Legislature and chairman of this committee, finding resolution to the state's toughest problems is an expectation--not a goal. Our branch of government will remain engaged, and will continue to create an environment that breeds cooperation, unanimous agreement and future success for these essential post secondary institutions."