Provisions of the agreement are:
— The current funding formula in place 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;
— 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;
— All six colleges will be held harmless from current funding formula impact for any changes made to student tuition for the 2010-11 school year;
— Metropolitan Community College shall receive $1.8 million from the five other community colleges on a pro-rata basis in lieu of changes to the formula for the 2010-11 school year;
— All six colleges have committed to reaching an agreement on the distribution of state aid for the 2010-11 school year funding formula calculations, subject to the Education Committee’s consent. This agreement shall be reached within seven days for inclusion in the bill this year.
Adams said the colleges have over a year to come up with the new funding formula, with the Education Committee providing a broad parameter for the formula.
“This has been an extremely difficult process for all six of our community colleges,” Adams said. “I want to personally recognize each college president, and the representatives for the board of governors who helped.”
Adams said it’s always difficult to get everybody together to work on an issue.
“Regardless what the issue is, when you try to bring them to the table, it’s a balancing act between looking at what’s good for the state and the community college system, but at the same time, they’re obligated to look out for their own institutions,” Adams said. “So getting them together, and getting them to agree on something, is not just a matter of slapping hands, or saying, ‘You should have done this a long time ago.’ It takes doing.”
Adams said he trusts all six community college presidents and their board members will honor the agreements they have made.
“In effect, we’ve had six community colleges say, ‘We will do this, and we will do this with unanimity. It’s not going to be easy. And we know we have our work cut out for us, but we’re prepared to do this for the good of the whole system,’ ” he said. “And for that, I applaud them.”
Adams said he is proud of the colleges working together to resolve this issue.
“I’m a believer that good education opens doors in life. It’s the cornerstone of our state’s future success,” Adams said. “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 best education possible for their students.”
