A bill to finance construction projects at Louisiana community and technical colleges passed a Senate finance committee
A bill to finance construction projects at Louisiana community and technical colleges passed a Senate finance committee Monday, but leaders at local four-year universities say the legislation is harmful to other higher education institutions around the state.
Just hours after the state Senate finance committee passed Senate Bill 204, a University of Louisiana System board member called the bill "horrible" Monday afternoon.
The legislation, sponsored by Robert Adley, R-Benton, allows the Louisiana Community and Technical College System to issue bonds to fund about $250 million worth of projects at community colleges to promote workforce and technical education.
It also allows the community college system to bypass the state's usual process and take funds that could go to other colleges around the state, UL System board member Winfred Sibille said during the UL system's committee meeting Monday.
"This is a horrible, horrible, bill," Sibille said. "If we don't do something about it, it's going to pass." Sibille said the bill would ultimately take funds away from all of the UL System's nine campuses.
Sibille said it's no doubt that community and technical colleges need facilities but he does not think this bill is the way to provide them.
The bill passed 8-3 in the Senate Finance Committee and heads next to the Senate floor.
The projects proposed under the measure include $39.7 million for a workforce training center and a technology center at Baton Rouge Community College, and $92 million for training centers at Delgado Community College that will teach nursing, culinary arts, hospitality, and transportation and maritime engineering, among other subjects.
The bill requires that each project obtain a 10 percent match from a private funding source.
Adley and Louisiana Community and Technical College System President Joe May said at Monday's committee meeting that the projects are needed to help fill a major shortage of skilled workers in Louisiana. Businesses are looking for workers who have more than a high school diploma, but don't need a four-year degree, they said.
The state needs to train those workers if it wants to attract businesses, create jobs, and grow the economy, Adley said.
Sen. Robert Adley"The demand is continuing," Adley said. "I think the way to get us out of this mess is to grow out of this mess."
Sen. Mack "Bodi" White, R-Central, said he notices that when he visits major chemical and oil companies in Louisiana, he notices the cars and trucks in the parking lot are all from out of state. When he asks why they don't hire Louisianan workers, the companies tell him, "You just don't have them."
But leaders at four-year universities say the legislation allows the community and technical colleges to bypass the Board of Regents, which determines which projects should have priority for funding. Under the state Constitution, regents require that every postsecondary education board submit an annual budget proposal for the operational and capital needs of each institution. In turn, the regents submit recommendations for capital construction and improvements to the governor and legislature.
"We are extremely concerned about the (bill's) potential impact on other systems' capital and operational budgets," Board of Regents Chairman, W. Clinton Rasberry said late last week. "This contradicts the constitutionally prescribed process, by which Regents has the legal authority to submit to the Governor and to the legislature the priorities for capital construction for all higher education institutions."
State Treasurer John Kennedy said the bill would negatively impact taxpayers. "I support our community colleges, but if they get permission to issue off-the-books debt, we'll have to also let LSU, Southern and the University of Louisiana system schools do it, too," Kennedy said to the Regents on April 25. "All this new debt will bust our constitutional debt limit and cause taxpayers to pay a lot more in interest."
Taking on the debt from the bonds could also lead to a downgrade in the state's credit ratings, representatives from the Louisiana Legislative Fiscal Office told senators Monday.