Effect of Governor Walker’s plan to change tech college funding

From twincities.com: “Scott Walker’s plan would overhaul tech school funding” — Western Wisconsin property taxpayers would save about $15 million under tax cuts proposed by Gov. Scott Walker.

Money from the state’s expected surplus would offset taxes levied by Western Technical College, benefiting homes and businesses in Western’s 11-county district.

But Walker’s proposal is more than a money dump. It would also transform funding methods for Wisconsin’s technical colleges.

Western’s top official lauded the plan but wondered about the future.

“Essentially, it’s shifting the balance,” Western president Lee Rasch said. “If this plan is going to help reduce the impact on property tax, it’s really a wonderful thing.”

The governor’s plan would inject state funding into Wisconsin’s network of tech colleges in 2015 to ease the burden on local taxpayers. The average homeowner would save $89 per $100,000 of property value in Western’s district, which includes La Crosse County.

It’s a savings from this year’s rate, but it’s also lower than taxes were before voters passed an $80 million bonding referendum in 2012, Rasch said. Western’s total levy this year, not including debt, was just more than $25 million. Walker’s plan would cut that to $10.3 million.

“That’s a pretty significant drop,” Rasch said.

Western’s ability to tax property owners would be reduced from $1.50 to 61 cents per $1,000 of property value.

Western and other technical colleges would switch to a K-12-style of financing, Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance President Todd Berry said. The governor’s proposal would link technical college levies to state aid and impose a cap on all revenue.

Like public schools, low property taxes would depend on continued support from the state. Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said the 2015 aid increase “will repeat in future years.”

“This is not one-time money,” Evenson said.

However, if state aid does dip, property taxes increase.

“That puts a new pressure on the state budget that hadn’t existed before,” Berry said.

Last year, Republican lawmakers recommended removing Wisconsin’s technical colleges from property tax bills.

At the time, Rasch criticized the proposal as a threat to local control. Walker’s proposal is “a good plan,” as long as local campuses still have the flexibility to develop courses and react to regional employment trends, Rasch said.

Walker also wants $35 million extra for training skilled workers. The program that would benefit is managed by the Department of Workforce Development, but some of the new funding would be channeled to technical colleges.

Money would go to eliminating wait-lists for high-demand courses and dual-credit programs, so tech schools could offer more college-level classes at nearby high schools.

Western officials are already considering ways to take advantage of the proposed funding, Rasch said. The college has wait-lists for welding, information technology and health care classes.

“We’re watching it closely,” Rasch said.

Dual credits help save money, time

From marshfieldnewsherald.com: “Column: Dual credits help save money, time” — By Sue Budjac — Today is Dual Credit Day. This day recognizes the role of Mid-State Technical College during the past two decades in helping thousands of high school students accelerate their educational attainment.

Recognition of similarly successful collaborations is happening today at technical colleges all across Wisconsin.

What is dual credit, and how does it work? Dual credit classes are college-level courses taught in high schools by high school teachers who are Wisconsin Technical College System certified.

Essentially, specific classes in the high school use MSTC books and curriculum, and students receive college credits for successful completion. Examples of dual credit classes include college accounting, advanced computer applications, medical terminology, alternative energy and marketing principles.

Each high school partners with MSTC to determine classes that are eligible for dual credit, so dual credit classes will vary from high school to high school. Eleven high schools currently offer dual credit classes in the Mid-State Technical College District.

The 16 colleges in the WTCS have offered dual credit opportunities for more than 20 years. During that time span, we have expanded dual credit into new program areas and presented high school students with numerous opportunities to get an inexpensive head start on their college education. Technical colleges across the state are specialists in transitioning high school students into higher education.

Every dual credit earned is one less credit to pay for in college. How so? With dual credit, high school students take a free MSTC college course that also counts toward their high school graduation requirements. Dual credit is thus a great way to reduce the cost of a college education.

Dual credit saves time and money. Students can focus their time in college on those courses and skills they need most to graduate quickly. Who wouldn’t prefer a paycheck in their pocket over another semester of college loans? Dual credit students also gain an early appreciation for the demands and rigor of college courses while putting themselves on the fast-track to a good-paying career.

About 20,000 Wisconsin high school students each year are already taking advantage of this head start on the path to a college degree. They learn a high-quality skill set and acquire hands-on experience in less time for less money. Dual credit students are more likely to enroll in college and complete an MSTC degree or certificate. Local businesses also benefit from a well-trained workforce. If our economy is to thrive, our communities need to embrace a healthy workforce that in turn stimulates economic growth and job creation. Dual credit is a means to that end.

If you are interested in learning more about earning college credit in high school, please visit with your local high school counselor or CTE teacher, or call MSTC’s high school career coach, Xiong Vang, at 715-422-5521.

Sue Budjac is president of Mid-State Technical College.

Educators can tour tech college programs

From wisconsinrapidstribune.com: “Educators can tour tech college programs” — Local kindergarten through grade 12 educators will have the opportunity to tour Mid-State Technical College and four other technical colleges during the week of June 17 to 21.

Registration has begun for a statewide collaborative offering graduate credit for increasing awareness of Wisconsin Technical College System, or WTCS, programs and services.

Teachers, counselors and administrators participating in the week-long Tours of Excellence visit a different technical college each day for hands-on learning about the programs and services available to students, as well as the 21st century career options that await WTCS graduates. Tour participants complete an action plan for disseminating what they’ve learned, and will earn 3 graduate credits from Marian University in Fond du Lac.

The tours are planned on a regional basis to allow for broad participation with local partners. Tours are broken into north, central and south sections, and space is limited to 30 individuals per section.

A participant of the 2012 Tour of Excellence said, “I feel much more prepared to share the opportunities for jobs and associate degrees that the technical colleges offer, as well as suggesting programs I feel my students would excel in.”

“Participants complete the tours with 3 graduate credits and an increased understanding of the great career and entrepreneurship opportunities available through MSTC and other WTCS programs,” said new student specialist Lana Mallek.

Additional information and online registration is available at www.fvtc.edu/wtcstour.

Wisconsin Technical College System adds solar systems for 8 colleges

From sunmaxxsolar.com: “SunMaxx Solar collaborates with Wisconsin Technical College System”  –  SunMaxx Solar, a leading vertically integrated manufacturer of solar thermal systems and components is delighted to announce their partnership with the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) to provide both certified solar hot water training and solar thermal systems for 8 colleges in the system.

SunMaxx began working with Earlyn Hanson, Instructor and Project Manager at the Wisconsin Technical College System back in the Spring of 2012. The college system received a federal grant for the state’s Sector Alliance for the Green Economy (SAGE) project. This grant allowed WTCS to purchase necessary tools to allow their students hands on experience in solar thermal technology. WTCS purchased SunMaxx Pro Dealer Kits for the colleges involved in the program. These kits will provide students with a functioning, life-size demo solar hot water system to experiment with for training and educational purposes.

WTCS stimulates local economic development by providing the state with hands-on education that brings people and jobs together at incredibly high placement rates. They offer over 300 career programs, including two-year associate degrees, one and two year technical diplomas, short term technical certificates and customized training and technical assistance directly to business and industry.

Edward Gunn, SunMaxx Sales Manager says, “We’re thrilled to be working with the Wisconsin Technical College System by providing industry leading equipment for their classrooms and certified solar thermal training to their instructors!”

SunMaxx Solar aims to build a sustainable future for our global community and is proud that the company’s installations greatly contribute to reducing our carbon footprint. In today’s energy consuming world, SunMaxx Solar offers world-class solar and renewable energy products, striving to meet the increasing need for alternative energy sources.

Student achievement high at MSTC

From stevenspointjournal.com: “Column: Student achievement high at MSTC” — By Sue Budjac, president of Mid-State Technical College —  As Mid-State Technical College nears the midpoint of spring semester, I pause to reflect on 100 years of student achievement in the Wisconsin Technical College System, or WTCS.

After all of these years, the basic premise remains the same: MSTC provides our students with the hands-on skills and real-world knowledge they need to be successful in central Wisconsin business and industry. All 16 colleges of the WTCS stand united in this commitment to student success.

The technical college model responds and evolves as employer needs and local economics change. That’s why MSTC graduates are in such high demand year after year. Nine out of 10 (88 percent) WTCS graduates are employed within six months of graduation. And not just any job — more than seven in 10 graduates are employed in a field related to their education and training. Who else can measure up to that?

While it’s important that our graduates attain employment, it is also vital that graduates employ their newly acquired skills here in Wisconsin. In fact, 86 percent of WTCS graduates remain in Wisconsin, and two-thirds don’t even leave their technical college district. Community and state appropriations for Wisconsin’s technical colleges are solid investments in our local and state economy.

Family sustaining wages are also a vital ingredient in a healthy local economy. WTCS associate degree graduates working full-time in a field related to their training earn an average of $36,000 within six months of graduation. A recent study showed this median salary increases to $44,000 within five years of graduation.

Student success is an integral part of everything we do at MSTC, because our graduates are central Wisconsin’s workforce of today and tomorrow. We measure our success in many ways. For example, 95 percent of graduates are satisfied with the education and training they receive at MSTC. A ready supply of employers want to hire MSTC graduates: 95 percent of surveyed employers said the education MSTC graduates receive meets or exceeds their expectations.

While I can go on about the many great benefits of a technical college education, seeing is believing. I invite you to attend the second annual Technical & Industrial Division Education Fair from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. March 12 where you will encounter hands-on activities and learn more about some of MSTC’s educational programs that lead to great careers with excellent pay in organizations seeking skilled employees.

Enjoy free pizza, enter a drawing for great prizes, visit with faculty, ask about scholarships and learn about financial aid. During this free event, you can preview all of our Technical & Industrial Division programs, including Industrial Mechanical Technician, Civil Engineering Technology-Highway Technician, Diesel & Heavy Equipment Technician, Urban Forestry Technician, Electrical Power Engineering Technology, Welding, our unique renewable energy programs, and many more. For more information or to register, call Mary at 715-422-5400.

 

Gateway Tech supports plan to tie funding to jobs

From journaltimes.com: “Pay for placement — Gateway supports plan to tie technical college funding to jobs” — RACINE — Currently, the majority of technical colleges’ state funding is based on three things: enrollment, operational costs and property values. Actual job placement and demand don’t play a role in that funding.

That is about to change.

As part of Gov. Scott Walker’s budget to be presented Wednesday, he has announced plans to tie funding for technical colleges, such as Gateway Technical College, to those colleges’ performance. With Gateway’s current high job placement rate, President Bryan Albrecht is in support of it.

“Accountability has always been a critical factor in education,” Albrecht said. Also, he said, it provides an incentive for colleges to improve performance to increase funding.

The state provides $83.5 million annually to technical colleges in general state aid, said Conor Smyth, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin Technical College System.

The governor has proposed increasing that amount to $88.5 million for the 2013-14 academic year. Starting in 2014-15, Walker wants to have 10 percent of that $88.5 million tied to performance standards and, eventually, 100 percent of it tied to performance by 2020.

The specifics and funding formula, however, still need to be developed by the WTCS and the state Department of Administration.

Already, Gateway and other technical colleges have a system in place to track job placement, Albrecht said. For instance, 85 percent of students who graduated from Gateway in May 2011 had jobs six months after graduation.

In order to ensure that the college is meeting community needs, degree committees — made up of area employees and employers — meet at least twice a year to discuss programs, said John Thibodeau, Gateway’s assistant provost.

During those meetings, they sometimes realize that there is no longer demand for certain degrees, Thibodeau said. For example, he said that in the past few years the college eliminated its medical transcriptionist program and radio broadcasting program. Doctors used to record notes on a audio recorder for later transcription, but that has become less common, Thibodeau said. Advancements in computer technology have reduced the need for radio broadcasters, Thibodeau said. It’s much easier to put a playlist together, Thibodeau said.

The college also dropped its sign language interpreter program, he said. There is still demand for that occupation, he said, but employers now want to hire people with degrees higher than associate degrees. They saw that their graduates weren’t getting jobs, and decided to change, Thibodeau said.

Gateway also works to meet community needs by developing new programs, Albrect said, Last week Gateway unveiled a $3.5 million addition to the newly renamed SC Johnson iMET Center in Sturtevant.

It includes labs that small- and medium-size companies which lack research and development facilities may use to design or redesign products.

With Gateway’s current systems in place, Albrecht said, “I’m confident Gateway will be able to meet (performance) expectations.”

GATEWAY AT A GLANCE

Based on survey results from May 2011 Gateway Technical College graduates:

— 85 percent have jobs within six months of graduation.

— 55 percent are employed in their field of training.

— The average full-time wage is $16.84 per hour.

To see a breakdown by degree, go to: www.gtc.edu and click on “Graduate Follow-Up Study” on the right of the page. The 2011 Graduate Follow-Up survey was mailed to 2,308 associate degree and technical diploma graduates. A total of 1,808 graduates responded to the survey for a response rate of 78 percent. To achieve that rate, multiple surveys are sent to all students and calls are also made.

Panel says skilled workers needed for economic expansion

biztimes.com: “Panel says skilled workers needed for economic expansion” — Growth and expansion in Wisconsin’s manufacturing sector is stalling because of a lack of skilled workers, a panel of experts reported to the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) Board this week.

“Manufacturers across Wisconsin consistently point to skill shortages as a ‘pacing’ issue,” said Jim Morgan, president of the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Foundation and one of four panelists. “In other words, skills training drives their ability to grow and expand.”In a December survey of the Wisconsin manufacturing industry conducted by Schenck, an Appleton-based accounting and consulting firm, nearly 90 percent of respondents indicated a skilled labor shortage was affecting sales growth and expansion opportunities.

Other panelists speaking before the board included John Schwantes, a director with Johnsonville Sausage in Sheboygan Falls, Fox Valley Technical College president Susan May and Jim Mackey, WTCS education director for manufacturing programs.

“We’ve certainly been challenged with skills shortages,” said Schwantes, a member of the WTCS board. “But we’ve also been engaged in developing the kinds of flexible K-12 and technical college partnerships that help us address those challenges.”

The technical colleges offer more than 60 education and training programs in manufacturing, with about 9,000 students enrolled, as well as customized training and technical assistance. “Our members believe the technical colleges are the preferred providers of skills training,” Morgan told the board.

May highlighted long-standing partnerships her college has with regional manufacturers. She also pointed out that the technical colleges must aggressively manage their “program mix,” balancing the needs of employers and interest of students across sectors.

“At some point, the colleges bump into issues related to student pipeline and college capacity,” said WTCS board president Mark Tyler. “We work hard with our partners to generate interest in manufacturing programs and careers, but we face challenges there, and in ensuring the colleges have the physical and instructional capacity to deliver graduates.”

Interview with WTCS President Morna Foy

From wiseye.org: “Newsmakers: Wisconsin Technical College System President Morna Foy” — In a Newsmakers interview in her office on Jan. 14, Foy said the System had more than 362,000 students last year and the typical student is about 34 years old. She also said the colleges coped with a 26% cut in state aid over the last two years by eliminating some programs, adding more wait lists and laying off instructors.

Listen to interview

 

Tech college system ready for performance-based approach

From wispolitics.com: “Tech college system ready for performance-based approach”– Wisconsin Tech College System President Morna Foy says that performance-based funding is certainly the right direction to go in paying for the state’s higher education efforts. She just wants to see it done in steps, not all at once.

“Our budget request actually requests a performance funding component,” Foy told WisPolitics.com during her first week in her new post. She said she hopes Gov. Scott Walker’s plans include a “measured approach.”

For the time being, WTCS has requested only a $2 million increase in general aid to be tied to certain performance metrics. The system has suggested using things like job placement rates, the number of students graduating with a diploma or certificate or the number of programs tied to “Technical Skill Attainment” within various industries. The money would come in the second year of the budget to allow system officials time to build a new performance-based system.

It’s a step the system is willing to take.

That’s because Foy, a long-time administrator for WTCS and a former Legislative Audit Bureau project analyst, understands the desire of Walker and lawmakers to tie the system’s funding to performance in areas like job creation and job placement. She says the system should be accountable to taxpayers and businesses looking to narrow the skills gap in the state. However, she wants to make sure that legislators know which approaches work and which don’t.

“Tennessee is always the state that’s brought up because they’ve been doing this for 30 years,” Foy said. “They’ve gone to a fully, 100 percent outcome-based funding mechanism. But it took them awhile to get there, and they didn’t stick with the performance measures they had 30 years ago. … They gave themselves the flexibility to tweak and modify and dump.”

That doesn’t just have to apply to WTCS, Foy said. Walker has suggested performance measures for the University of Wisconsin System, but some higher ed observers have been skeptical of how that would work at the comprehensive four-year universities. Foy said that while UW and WTCS have different missions — and that they’d likely need to measure some different outcomes — such an approach could work.

“I do think that there are going to be different challenges for both of our systems in developing appropriate models and collecting the data and tracking it,” Foy said. “We’re hoping that we’re going to build [accountability systems], and I think the university’s hope would also be the same. That there will be this process … will build more connection between us and policy makers and constituents. And it’s going to strengthen our focus.”

But Foy says that if the tech colleges are going to help boost the state economy and get people back in good-paying, sustainable jobs, they’re going to need more resources to do it. And while the Act 10 changes did offer some breathing room, it wasn’t a “one-for-one tradeoff” after the system’s state support was cut by nearly 30 percent. The agency estimates that after Act 10 savings were accounted for, a total of $20.4 million was lost over the biennium.

“I think we are kind of at a point right now where we are managing our finances, but we are being asked to do more than just manage our finances and do more than what we did last year. We’re being asked not just to serve our students, but do new things: deliver education in more dynamic ways, reach off more off campus and create more opportunities for different kind of learners in different kind of situations.”

That’s why WTCS has requested a $88 million increase in categorical aid to target a new class of 39,000 additional students. That includes $60 million over the biennium for Wisconsin Skills Link, which would dole out competitive grants to students looking for longer-term solutions to boosting their chances in the workforce as well. The system also requested $20 million for Adult Career Pathways, a program that attempts to incrementally boost the occupational skills and credentials of Wisconsin residents as they simultaneously make their way up through different levels of employment.

While Foy hopes legislators see fit to let WTCS focus on these priorities or offer other grants, she’s just happy that state government is committing to a new investment in workforce development.

“We’re just excited about the idea that the state is prioritizing this,” Foy said. “You know it’s been a problem for years. Most of the money that came for this very targeted reason came from the federal government. Because the federal government has got all these rules about it and it’s not necessarily sensitive or in tune with what Wisconsin needs or, even farther down, what local communities need or want.”

While Foy wants to make sure the system is responding to different stakeholders across the state, a move by Republicans in the last session made the case that the business community was being left out. Rep. Mark Honadel and Sen. Glenn Grothman introduced companion bills that would have amended the composition of technical college district boards to include at least six members from the business community. Right now, boards must have at least two employers out of their nine members. That bill was later amended to mandate that the Milwaukee Area Technical College Board should include at least five employers.

Foy believes the system is already responsive to the needs of the business community and that the district boards, which already guarantee employers a seat at the table, aren’t the only way to make their needs known to the system.

“Every single one of our programs, more than 300 across the state, has an advisory board made up of employers,” Foy said. “Those are the individuals that tell us, ‘What you are teaching in that program is not what we are doing in the workplace.’ Or ‘Yes, there was a time that we needed an IT specialist in blah blah. We’ve evolved. That’s not what we’re doing anymore.’”