GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

H	2 

HOUSE BILL 315
Committee Substitute Favorable 4/8/93

Short Title:  GPAC/Community Colleges.	(Public)
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Sponsors:
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Referred to:  
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February 25, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO IMPLEMENT THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE AUDIT COMMITTEE REGARDING THE NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
––-COMM. COLL. COST OF EDUCATION POLICY.
Section 1.  (a)	The General Assembly finds that the tuition policy of the North Carolina Community College System needs to be reexamined in order to reflect better the constitutional mandate to provide higher education free of expense "as far as practicable" by reevaluating the relationship of tuition to the cost of education and by determining what costs must be made up of tuition charged in order to ensure that all eligible North Carolinians are indeed guaranteed a public higher education in the North Carolina Community College System at the lowest possible cost while maintaining a public community college system that is worthy of the support of all North Carolinians.
(b)	The General Assembly finds that tuition and required fees charged for community colleges should be a limited amount of resident students' per capita student funding.
(c)	The State Board of Community Colleges shall develop a tuition/fee policy consistent with law that limits tuition and required fees to a specific percentage of less than one-fifth of the per capita student funding for resident students attending community colleges.
(d)	The State Board of Community Colleges shall present its plan for implementing the tuition adjustments pursuant to this section to the General Assembly by April 1, 1994.
(e)  G.S. 115D-5(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	The State Board of Community Colleges may adopt and execute such policies, regulations and standards concerning the establishment, administration, and operation of institutions as the State Board may deem necessary to insure the quality of educational programs, to promote the systematic meeting of educational needs of the State, and to provide for the equitable distribution of State and federal funds to the several institutions.
The State Board of Community Colleges shall establish standards and scales for salaries and allotments paid from funds administered by the State Board, and all employees of the institutions shall be exempt from the provisions of the State Personnel Act. The State Board shall have authority with respect to individual institutions: to approve sites, buildings, building plans, budgets; to approve the selection of the chief administrative officer; to establish and administer standards for professional personnel, curricula, admissions, and graduation; to regulate the awarding of degrees, diplomas, and certificates; to establish and regulate student tuition and fees within policies for tuition and fees established by the General Assembly; and to establish and regulate financial accounting procedures."
(f)  This section becomes effective July 1, 1993.
––-NCCCS FUNDING GOAL.
Sec. 2.  (a)	It is the goal of the General Assembly to increase the per student funding for the North Carolina Community College System, as soon as fiscal conditions permit, to a level more comparable to national averages for similar institutions.
(b)	This section becomes effective July 1, 1993.
––-NCCCS FUNDING FORMULA.
Sec. 3.  (a)	The State Board of Community Colleges shall develop a program-based funding system, including a full-time equivalency component and specific goal performance components, in order to encourage the community colleges to meet particular State needs or goals.  The State Board of Community Colleges shall propose an initial set of such goals and shall propose revisions of these goals periodically.  The State Board of Community Colleges shall report its proposed new funding system to the 1995 General Assembly for its approval.
(b)	This section becomes effective July 1, 1993.
––-COMM. COLL. MORATORIUM.
Sec. 4.  (a)	Before the date of adjournment of the 1993 Session of the 1993 General Assembly, the State Board of Community Colleges shall adopt guidelines for multicampus colleges and off-campus centers that recognize the availability of technology and transportation, that locate any new facilities to minimize the impact on existing colleges, campuses, and centers, and that apply regional program-sharing principles.  There shall be no new colleges, multicampus colleges, or off-campus centers established within the North Carolina Community College System until the State Board adopts these guidelines, at which time the moratorium shall be lifted.
(b)	This section is effective upon ratification.
––-GPAC/COMM. COLL. PROGRAM REVIEW.
Sec. 5.  (a)	The State Board of Community Colleges shall conduct a review of the structure of the community college system.  The State Board of Community Colleges shall study the structure of the community college system based upon a regional review of program needs in order to facilitate the most efficient use of system resources.  The program planning required by this act shall include the defining of enlarged service areas for community colleges based upon the needs of the respective service areas.  The planning process utilized by the State Board shall include review of the need to consolidate, eliminate, or modify the status of existing community colleges and multicampus and off-campus centers.  The State Board shall review the distribution of physical facilities, programs, and resources in regions for the purpose of eliminating competition among the community colleges for students in overlapping service areas.
(b)	In the defining of new regions for the most efficient functioning of the community college system, the State Board of Community Colleges shall conduct a comprehensive program review designed to eliminate any unproductive, low-quality, unnecessary, or duplicative programs.
(c)	The State Board of Community Colleges shall implement a regional program structure to facilitate effective program planning, efficient use of resources, the implementation of statewide curriculum standards, and consolidated high-quality programs.  The regional structure shall be the unit used for the purposes of comprehensive planning and budgeting in the community college system.  The criteria used by the State Board in determining the manner in which the community college system shall be restructured into newly defined regions may include, in addition to other appropriate criteria, the following:
(1)	Location of the nearest college, campus, or off-campus center;
(2)	New or anticipated population to be served;
(3)	Existing and proposed transportation corridors and facilities;
(4)	Programs proposed compared to the location of the nearest similar program;
(5)	Feasibility of delivering programs using technology;
(6)	Use and availability of facilities of local school systems;
(7)	Potential impact on enrollment of nearby institutions; and
(8)	Geographical redistribution of college transfer programs.
(d)	The State Board of Community Colleges shall establish standards for the periodic review of community college programs including standards for the termination of programs.
(e)  The State Board of Community Colleges shall establish within the community college system Programs for Excellence, which shall be world-class model programs in each curriculum program area, to be implemented throughout the community college system at each of the institutions authorized to offer each program.  To create the Programs for Excellence, the State Board shall appoint, for each curriculum program area and from any community college, ad hoc committees of community college faculty members who have demonstrated individual excellence and leadership.  Each ad hoc committee shall design model curricula, establish curriculum standards, and update curricula in response to changes in technologies and market conditions.
(f)  This section is effective upon ratification.
––-COMM. COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS.
Sec. 6.  (a)	The Department of Community Colleges shall develop a plan to establish a Community College System Challenge Grant Scholarship Fund.  The plan shall be presented to the 1994 Regular Session of the 1993 General Assembly.  The plan shall address initial funding (method and amounts) as well as matching contributions from non-State contributions.
(b)	It is the goal of the General Assembly that the Challenge Grant Scholarship Fund be developed for the benefit of students with demonstrated financial need in the North Carolina Community College System.
(c)	The State Board of Community Colleges shall administer the Challenge Grant Scholarship Fund as a means for augmenting rapidly the principal in the Fund so that the State Board will gain greater resources from which to award aid to a larger number of needy students.
(d)	This section is effective upon ratification.