WINTERVILLE — Community colleges will continue to be a lynchpin in North Carolina’s status as a national business hub, gubernatorial hopeful 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. Stein is on the campaign trail for the governorship as he faces Republican Mark Robinson in November’s election.
“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.
Leaders also told Stein that the proximity of Pitt Community College and East Carolina University helps both institutions by allowing students to transition into a bachelor’s degree program or allow students in fields like nursing to acquire training from both institutions.
“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.
“We need to continually replenish folks with skills in welding, in plumbing, in framing, in technical skills, in nursing. What’s great about the Pitt Community College and ECU partnership, particularly in nursing, is they are making sure we are getting enough nurses in the classroom getting the skills so they can come back out in the community and keep us all healthy and well.”
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 round praise from community college leaders since it was introduced in January, but recent proposals by the neither the state House or Senate during the General Assembly’s short session fully funded Propel NC in budget negotiations, which are at a standstill.
“(Propel NC) is only partially funded in the House and the Senate at $18 million,” Brown told Stein. “Certainly we would have preferred full funding in terms of the … model, but certainly we support that as (do) all the other 58 community colleges.”
“We’re in favor of that, we just were hoping for full funding instead of partial funding. I’m not exactly sure how they would implement a partial funding model. If they don’t fully fund it this year then we’re hoping for additional funding in subsequent years.”
Mike Lausch, PCC’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 one by allowing the college to broaden their program and assess what needs to be changed. Stein agreed that gives students a chance to quickly market their skills.
“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 proposed funding model would provide an additional $2.2 million to Pitt Community College. He also fielded a question about whether Stein would be a boon to community colleges if elected governor in November.
“That could be any person’s opinion of course,” Brown said. “I certainly think Attorney General Stein supports community colleges as he indicated here with us recently. Anybody that supports community colleges and supports the Propel NC funding model, we certainly would appreciate those people that support that program.”
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. Settlements have netted $50 billion nationwide and North Carolina’s share is nearly $1.5 billion, Stein said.
The decision eliminated a $5-6 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-$6 billion,” Stein said. “That’s totally separate from the $50 plus billion that we’ve already won for people across the country.”
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