Stein visits eastern NC community college to promote jobs vision

WINTERVILLE — Community colleges will continue to be a lynchpin in North Carolina’s status as a national business hub, N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein said during a visit to Pitt Community College.

Stein on Tuesday toured homes built in part by students in the construction technology program and sat down for a roundtable with campus leaders. The Democratic nominee to succeed Gov. Roy Cooper is on the campaign trail in a closely contested race against Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a Republican, in the upcoming November election. Cooper, a Democrat and a Nash County native, is term-limited.

“North Carolina’s community college system is a treasure for this state,” Stein said. “It is such an instrumental institution in helping people get the skills they need to go get good paying jobs. We saw it here today with the construction program at Pitt Community College; incredible, and they’re doing such a good job that for some of the students they are being poached before they even finish their curriculum. There’s such a demand for their skills.”

Pitt Community College has begun construction on a $17.7 million Welding Technology Building to help account for those skilled labor demands. The building is being paid for with county funds, which Pitt Community College Interim President Ricky Brown said was a help.

“Everywhere I go with these community colleges, and I’ve been to a number, as soon as someone gets a welding certificate they’re employed,” Stein told the roundtable.

Both Nash Community College and Edgecombe Community College offer degrees, diplomas and certificates in their respective welding technologies programs. Certificates are often programs that students can complete in one or two semesters.

Pitt Community College leaders also told Stein that the proximity of East Carolina University in Greenville helps both institutions by allowing students to transition into a bachelor’s degree program or allow students in fields such as nursing to obtain training at both institutions.

Stein noted that the training happening in North Carolina community colleges and universities are improving the skills of the workforce across the state.

“North Carolina has been number one for business two years running, which is an incredible statistic,” Stein said. “It is the people of North Carolina that are driving that success, the quality of our workforce.”

Stein said the focus has to stay on the kind of job training programs that can be found at community colleges.

“We need to continually replenish folks with skills in welding, in plumbing, in framing, in technical skills, in nursing,” Stein noted.

Stein said the great thing about community college and university partnerships, particularly in fields such as nursing, is they ensure there are enough nurses in the classroom getting the skills they need so they can continue to serve the community.

The Propel NC funding model, which would base funding for the state’s 58 community colleges on labor market outcomes rather than enrollment, dominated discussion on Tuesday.

The $93 million plan has received praise from community college leaders since it was introduced in January, but recent proposals by the N.C. House and the N.C. Senate during the legislature’s short session failed to fully fund Propel NC. Budget negotiations between the two bodies are at a standstill.

Brown told Stein that all 58 community colleges support fully funding the Propel NC model.

“I’m not exactly sure how they would implement a partial funding model,” Brown noted. “If they don’t fully fund it this year, then we’re hoping for additional funding in subsequent years.”

Mike Lausch, Pitt Community College’s vice president of academic affairs and continuing education, said the funding model is a means to help adult learners achieve receive short-term education to find a new job or rise up in their current job by allowing the college to broaden their programs and assess what needs to be changed to better prepare the workforce. Stein agreed that the focus on job skills and labor market needs gives students a chance to quickly market the skills that they are learning in the classroom.

“A program that exists today may not have a labor market demand for it in five years,” Lausch told Stein. “We want to sunset that and use those resources for a program that there is a growing rate for. NC Propel allows us to do that.”

Brown said that the Propel NC funding model, if it were fully funded by the legislature, would provide additional funds for Pitt Community College.

According to projections from the N.C. Community College System office, Nash Community College would receive an additional $950,000 under the new funding model, and Edgecombe Community College would receive an additional $710,000. That’s about an 8 percent increase over the current funding model for both community colleges in the Twin Counties.

Stein also briefly touched on a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a nationwide settlement with Oxycontin producer Purdue Pharma. Stein has been at the forefront of lawsuits against opioid manufacturers in his role as the state’s attorney general. Settlements have netted $50 billion nationwide, and North Carolina’s share is nearly $1.5 billion, Stein said.

The decision eliminated a $5 billion to $6 billion settlement landed between state and local governments and the Sackler family, who own Purdue. The Sacklers would have contributed up to $6 billion and given up ownership of the company but retained billions more. The agreement provided that the company would emerge from bankruptcy as a different entity, with its profits used for treatment and prevention.

“We’re back to the drawing board with that $5 (billion) to $6 billion,” Stein said. “That’s totally separate from the $50 plus billion that we’ve already won for people across the country.”