Letters to the editor for Thursday, May 21, 2015

Community colleges deserve better

In this state we have a business community clamoring for an educated work force, we have a governor who said we need an educated work force to lead our economy into this next century. Our legislature says it wishes to improve our schools systems to fund it also. Our state has one of the lowest ranked education systems in the nation.

The governor recognizes the need for schools of higher education. Prior to releasing his budget, he tells the local business community the place to train and to educate this new work force is in the community college system. Our legislature echoes this thought. Our business community applauds this notion. The University Board of Regents agrees.

Regardless of the reason, the governor failed to include funding for the community colleges in his budget. The Legislature has failed to include the community colleges in its budget proposals. The elected Board of Regents, who in their budget proposals for higher education imposes penalties on the community colleges for having different standards than the universities.

It is recognized that a community college program is necessary for the good of Nevada. But governing bodies don’t want to take steps to make them a functioning viable resource of our state.

Our young people are the future of Nevada. Many skills and tools they will need socially and economically are learned at the community colleges. Specialized education courses are found at the local colleges from nursing, mechanics, and construction.

Do we take the future away from our younger generations, or do we support them?

John Connolly

Carson City