Some of the trustees of Barton Community College will join President Dr. Carl Heilman when he travels to Topeka next month at the start of the next Legislative session. Gov. Sam Brownback will give his State of the State address on Jan. 15, and Heilman is encouraging trustees to come to Topeka for two or three days.
At the last board study session, Heilman also asked trustees to let him know if they want to attend the Association of Community College Trustees’ National Legislative Summit, Feb. 10-13, 2014, at Washington, D.C., even though the president did not recommend it.
“Last year BCC did not participate for the first time in many years,” Heilman said.
Mike Johnson, chairman of the board of trustees, also questioned the value of the national conference, while recommending time in Topeka. He has attended both in the past.
“Several trustees used to go to D.C.,” he said. But sometimes they weren’t able to meet with congressmen, who sent their representatives in their place. “There’s really not much information garnered from the trip,” he said of recent national conferences. It can easily cost the college $10,000 to send people, he added.
“I do think the Topeka event has been very beneficial,” Johnson said. It comes at the front end of the Legislative session, so college representatives are able to make contact with almost all of the legislators in the BCC service area.
State funding for education will be a major topic again this year. Heilman is hopeful the state will continue to provide funding for Senate Bill 155, passed in 2012, which pays the tuition for high school students enrolled in Barton’s career and technical classes. But colleges would also like to see funding that has been cut restored.
Earlier this year, Dean of Administration Mark Dean reported on a state funding formula where aid for courses was set at different levels based on the actual cost of providing a course. Under this “tiered” formula, Barton’s state funding for Fiscal Year 2014 should have been close to $15.5 million, but the college will actually receive $7.9 million in state aid.