Workforce Training in a Recovering Economy: Perceptions of State Community College Leaders

The purpose of this study was to examine policy issues from the unique viewpoint of state offices that are responsible for the supervision of community colleges and their role in developing the workforce. Using selected survey items from the 2012 Survey of Access and Finance conducted by the Education Policy Center at the University of Alabama, 50 out of 51 members of the National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges (NCSDCC) participated in the study. State community college directors provided perceptions of their short-and long-term roles or capacity in workforce development given the uncertainty in employment and current national economic conditions. Results indicated that a majority of respondents agreed that business leaders saw community colleges as workforce training providers; however, the end of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), slow recovery in state tax revenues for college operating budgets, and limited workforce training funding all challenged training capacity. A majority of respondents expressed that there is a need to expand high-wage jobs through current high-cost training programs and curricula. The fiscal stress and pressure to prepare skilled workers with drastically reduced funding must be addressed if community colleges are to maintain their workforce develop mission. (Contains 5 tables, 1 figure, and 41 endnotes.) [This report was written with the assistance of J. Lucas Adair, Phillip D. Grant, Jonathan P. Koh, William Rex Bailey, and D. Nelson Tidwell.]