Bredesen seeks ‘better use’ of community colleges

NASHVILLE — Gov. Phil Bredesen said he and a select group of lawmakers are having a “good, spirited discussion” over higher education changes he hopes will ultimately lead to higher graduation rates in Tennessee public colleges and universities.

“We have too many kids that come in and for one reason or another ... they don’t make it through,” Gov. Bredesen recently said. “I guess the key strategy there is to figure out how to make better use of the community colleges for that purpose. I think it makes an easier transition in many cases for some of these students who need remediation.”

Gov. Bredesen’s comments came last week following an education conference. On Monday, the governor, lawmakers and higher education officials resumed their ongoing series of closed-door meetings hoping to reach a detailed consensus on higher education changes.

Over the summer, Gov. Bredesen, who previously pushed successfully for tougher K-12 standards, called overhauling higher education the “last major thing on my plate” as he prepares to enter his final year as the state’s chief executive.

Besides making better use of two-year colleges, topics that remain on the table include changing the higher education funding formula to reward institutions that do a better job retaining and graduating students. Also under discussion is the need to make it easier for students at two-year colleges to transfer course credits to four-year colleges and universities.

“At the moment, there’s about 5 percent of their budget which is based on a variety of performance measures,” Gov. Bredesen said of the funding formula, noting it currently is “almost an automatic kind of thing. We’ve actually had a good, spirited discussion about what are the things you reward in the funding formula ... there are things now that no matter how you do on this performance evaluation, nobody ever loses money. There’s a floor. ... There’s talk about the need to remove that.”

As for the transfer of credits, Gov. Bredesen said, “kids who go to a community college ought to understand on the front end whether or not this course suffices and gets course credit in a four-year institution.”

He emphasized no decisions have been made. But he said that by working with the legislative group, he doesn’t think such measures will be terribly difficult to pass in the legislature.

“There’s good strong leadership from both the D (Democrat) and R (Republican) sides on this,” Gov. Bredesen, a Democrat, said. “These are the people that the legislature would look to for opinions on education.”

Attendees typically include the House and Senate education committee chairmen as well as the chairmen of the respective finance committees. Others attending include Sen. Andy Berke, D-Chattanooga.

“The governor is trying to work together with the stakeholders, including legislators, to see if there are areas we can have some common agreement to move the ball forward,” Sen. Berke said.

He said attendees share many of the same goals and perspectives.

The vice chairman of the Tennessee Board of Regents, Bob Thomas, and the vice chairman of University of Tennessee, Jim Murphy, both typically attend as do staffers from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.

Other lawmakers attending include Rep. Beth Harwell, R-Nashville.

“I think the governor’s on track,” Rep. Harwell said.

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga spokesman Chuck Cantrell said the four-year institution has been “actively pursuing articulation (credit transfer) agreements with Tennessee’s two year colleges.”

UTC sends an admissions staffer frequently to both Chattanooga State and Cleveland State to work with students who want to transfer to UTC. The university also provides “equivalency charts” that compare course-by-course offerings, he said.

Efforts to contact Chattanooga State President Jim Catanzaro were unsuccessful. Officials with the Tennessee Higher Education Commission did not return calls.