GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

S	3 

SENATE BILL 505
Education/Higher Education Committee Substitute Adopted 5/6/93
Education/Higher Education Committee Substitute No. 2 Adopted 5/11/93

Short Title:  Comm. Coll. Study.	(Public)
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Sponsors:
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Referred to:
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March 18, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO DIRECT THE STATE BOARD OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE MONITORING COMMITTEE OF THE COMMISSION ON THE FUTURE OF THE NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM, TO EXAMINE THE MISSION OF THE NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM, AND TO MAKE AN APPROPRIATION.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  In addition to its other duties, the State Board of Community Colleges shall undertake a comprehensive review of the mission of the North Carolina Community College System in order to ensure that it is well-prepared to meet changing educational and economic needs as the State moves into the Twenty-first Century.  The Monitoring Committee of the Commission on the Future of the North Carolina Community College System shall serve as an independent body to monitor and review the issues.  The State Board and the Monitoring Committee, as part of the review under this act, shall:
(1)	Thoroughly examine the mission and 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.  This examination shall include:
a.	Defining enlarged service areas for community colleges based upon the needs of the respective service areas,
b.	Evaluating the need to consolidate, eliminate, or modify the status of existing community colleges and multicampus and off-campus centers,
c.	Assessing 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,
d.	Identifying any unproductive, low-quality, unnecessary, or duplicative programs, and
e.	Considering the impact of distance learning technologies on future programming.
(2)	Assess the manner in which the community college system can most effectively meet the current and future needs of business and industry and the adult population of North Carolina.
(3)	Develop 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 to determine 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:
a.	Location of the nearest college, campus, or off-campus center;
b.	New or anticipated population to be served;
c.	Existing and proposed transportation corridors and facilities;
d.	Programs proposed compared to the location of the nearest similar program;
e.	Feasibility of delivering programs using technology;
f.	Use and availability of facilities of local school systems;
g.	Potential impact on enrollment of nearby institutions; and
h.	Geographical redistribution of college transfer programs.
(4)	Establish 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.
(5)	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 may propose an initial set of goals.
(6)	Establish standards for the periodic review of community college programs including standards for the termination of programs.
(7)	Develop an articulation policy that assures students taught at any institution under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Education, the State Board of Community Colleges, or the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina may transfer credit to other institutions within these systems in order to eliminate the necessity of repetition of instruction in the same areas so that costs to the student and to the State are minimized.
(8)	Design, 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.  These Programs shall include model curricula, establish curriculum standards, and update curricula in response to changes in technologies and market conditions.
(9)	Study any additional issue the State Board of Community Colleges or the Monitoring Committee considers appropriate.
Sec. 2.  The State Board of Community Colleges shall make interim reports to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee no later than April 15, 1994, and no later than January 15, 1995.  Thereafter, the State Board shall make annual reports to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee by January 15 of each year until the Monitoring Committee terminates, at which time the State Board shall make a final report.
Sec. 3.  This act is effective upon ratification.