WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Education experts are cautiously optimistic about President George W. Bush's State of the Union proposal to increase support for job training programs at community colleges.
The proposal comes at a time when the United States is hemorrhaging manufacturing and IT jobs to foreign countries.
"We must ensure that the older students and adults can gain the skills they need to find work now," Bush said during the speech.
Bush proposed $250 million to fund job-training programs in community colleges so workers could be retrained for available jobs. More specifics will be available by Feb. 2, when Bush presents a detailed budget to Congress.
"We won't have the full picture until the president's budget is firmed up on Feb. 2 ... [But] when you look at the overall picture it is a fairly modest amount -- there's a lot of territory to cover," said Norma Kent, vice president of communications for the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). There are 1,173 accredited community colleges that serve about 11 million students according to AACC's Web site.
"They're used to operating with fairly limited funds -- but any monies are very welcome," she said.
Community colleges already do a lot of contract and other training to fill jobs available at local industries, Kent said. "Virtually all of them do something like that." For instance, petrochemical programs to support the oil industry in southern Texas, Kent noted.
"They (community colleges) pride themselves on being reflective of their communities -- whatever the need is, there will be a course or program that reflects it," Kent said.
A commercial music program at South Plains College in Texas teaches students how to perform a variety of country and Western music styles. And in North Carolina, a state replete with golf courses, community colleges offer classes in turf management.
Some programs even offer the equivalent of paid internships, Kent said. Local automakers sponsor students for an automobile servicing program at Brookhaven College in Dallas. When students graduate, not only have they earned a paycheck, but also an associate's in applied science as well as 40 weeks of work experience at the auto dealership.
Since many communities are in need of workers critical to the community like health workers and firefighters, "The grants will allow us to do a better job of meeting the needs of our communities," Kent said.
The colleges educate the majority of first responders such as firefighters, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), medical technicians and other health care workers Kent said.
Right now, high costs make it hard for community colleges to provide the job training their communities need, said Kaye Walter, vice president of academic affairs at Kansas City Kansas Community College.
"It is very difficult for vocational areas in particular, since they need expensive equipment and high-cost personnel -- the colleges have the burden of finding additional funding. Workforce programs sustain our communities."
"I think his proposal is an excellent start but I'd encourage him to put more funding into workforce development," she said.
Walter said community colleges provide virtually all the training for the thriving technology industry in the Kansas City area and the Boeing plant in the Wichita area.
When asked about forecast which say the future holds more low-skilled jobs than high-skilled jobs, Kent said, "The service sector is growing more rapidly than some other sectors -- but others pay very nice wages such as IT or nursing. [With jobs going out of the country,] these more specialized programs are all the more important."
Community colleges help develop programs for evolving careers in conjunction with the Department of Labor, she said. One example, geospatial technology, is used in fields such as urban planning and agriculture she said.
"We hope this represents a new White House commitment toward federal job training programs. But after three years of seeing funding for these programs wither under this Administration, those of us on the frontlines remain skeptical," said Andy Van Kleunen, executive director of The Workforce Alliance.
The program cuts the Bush administration wanted included cuts to job training programs already at community colleges, as well as other job training programs, he said.
The extra funding could be particularly important to tribal colleges, which primarily educate Native Americans, who suffer some of the highest poverty and unemployment rates in the country, and for whom the tribal colleges are often the only way to get a college education in remote areas.
Tribal colleges are "primary agents of change in rebuilding the economic and social health of tribal communities," said Gerard Gipp, president of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC).
Gipp said he found the proposal encouraging, but withheld further support until the President's budget is submitted Feb. 2.
"Tribal Colleges and universities already engage in job training, and at first glance, President Bush's Jobs for the 21st Century proposal could help these tribal colleges to expand these much-needed programs, thereby increasing local economies," Gipp said.
However, tribal colleges might have problems if the program is executed through state governments, since the colleges don't benefit from state programs.
"If the president's job training proposal is run through the states, we would need to find a way to carve out an appropriate amount for the tribal colleges so that they too might better serve their constituency through new and improved job training programs," Gipp said.
