In an editorial published in the Washington Post July 12, President Barack Obama said community colleges can help build a new foundation for the nation’s recovering economy.
Setting the stage for talks later this week about his goals to train individuals for a competitive and ever-evolving economy, Obama said community colleges will be instrumental in rebuilding the nation’s workforce. His assertions underscore the continued growth community colleges will likely experience as individuals seek re-training opportunities, economic hardships deter more students from four-year institutions and the economy increases demand for workers with some postsecondary experience.
“We believe it’s time to reform our community colleges so that they provide Americans of all ages a chance to learn the skills and knowledge necessary to compete for the jobs of the future,” Obama said. “Our community colleges can serve as 21st-century job training centers, working with local businesses to help workers learn the skills they need to fill the jobs of the future.”
To reach this goal, Obama proposed to reallocate funding to help community colleges modernize facilities and increase the quality of online courses. In turn, he said he believes such investments would poise the nation to meet the objective of graduating 5 million more individuals from community colleges by 2020.
“Providing all Americans with the skills they need to compete is a pillar of a stronger economic foundation, and, like health care or energy, we cannot wait to make the necessary changes. We must continue to clean up the wreckage of this recession, but it is time to rebuild something better in its place,” Obama said.

This morning I accompanied Kim to a meeting convened by the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee.  The Committee invited Kim, along with other workforce and education association leaders, to discuss with them ways of developing the 21^st century workforce.  The meeting was co-chaired by Senators Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Patty Murray of Washington, who also chairs the subcommittee that oversees the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act.

One of the overarching problems addressed by both Senators and invitees was the growing number of college dropouts.  When asked why students drop out, several people pointed to the skyrocketing cost of college tuition and the lack of family support.  Kim also mentioned that at the high school level, many students dropout because they lack focus.  Students don’t always see the relevance of what they are doing in school to the workplace or higher education.  This lack of focus can lead students to drop out of high school or to enter college without a clear understanding of why they are there or what they are going to do when they leave.  CTE can provide students with this focus, and show them the variety of options they have after high school.  Kim then addressed the growing problem that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has created for CTE: with all the requirements imposed by NCLB, many students have no time in their schedules to take CTE classes, and some of these electives are being cut.  For this reason, Perkins should be part of the discussion when NCLB is reauthorized.

Bryan Albrecht of ACTE and George Boggs of AACC touched upon the affect that the economy is having on community colleges.  Enrollments are up, but resources are sorely lacking.  According to AACC, community colleges now serve 46% of students enrolled in higher education.  If community colleges are to provide educational and training opportunities to this growing number of individuals, they are going to need an infusion of resources, or else they may have to start turning students away.

This morning the President unveiled several new efforts related to job training.  First, he announced the creation of opportunity.gov, a site dedicated to connecting unemployed individuals with educational opportunities. Second, he announced that Dr. Jill Biden, the Vice President’s wife, has been appointed to “to lead a national effort to raise awareness about what we’re doing to open the doors to our community colleges.”  The President called community colleges “one of America’s underappreciated assets” and indicated that they are ” increasingly important centers of learning where Americans can prepare for the jobs of the future.”  Finally, the President noted that ” (i)n the weeks to come, I will also lay out a fundamental rethinking of our job training, vocational education, and community college programs. It’s time to move beyond the idea that we need several different programs to address several different problems — we need one comprehensive policy that addresses our comprehensive challenges.”  What does this mean for CTE?  Does this mean the Administration will be proposing its own alternative to WIA? We don’t know yet but you can be sure we’ll have our ears to the ground and providing input at every given opportunity!

Here is a link to the President’s remarks: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-Job-Creation-and-Job-Training-5/8/09/?tr=y&auid=4844222