Ky. Colleges President Pushes Back On Looming Budget Cuts

HICKORY, Ky. (AP) — The head of Kentucky’s community college system is trying to build opposition to potential state budget cuts on the horizon.

Michael McCall, president of the Kentucky Community & Technical College System, is seeking support to hold the schools’ base funding at $215 million, The Paducah Sun reported. The move comes as state government braces for the possibility of even more dire budget times ahead.

With Kentucky job losses continuing to mount, more people are turning to community colleges for retraining, McCall said. The state’s current unemployment rate is about 11 percent.

“It’s all about jobs,” McCall said. “It’s all about people getting back to work.”

McCall made his remarks at West Kentucky Community & Technical College’s Skilled Craft Training Center. He is planning to visit all of the system’s 16 colleges before the end of the year.

Enrollment in the system has more than doubled since 1998, rising from about 52,000 to 106,000 this fall, McCall said.

Recent state budget news, however, has not been comforting. Economic experts say the state may be facing a $160 million additional revenue shortfall in the current fiscal year.

McCall’s legislative agenda for next year includes $481 million for capital projects. It also includes $6 million to operate 14 new buildings, including $750,000 for the Skilled Craft Training Center and $9 million for a Paducah art school.

WKCTC President Barbara Veazey said officials are looking to renovate a warehouse for training purposes and renovate two buildings to make them comply with earthquake codes. Veazey said officials are planning to move ahead with the project at the Paducah School of Art.

“But it would make it a lot easier if we had the state funding,” she said.

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