Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel, April 10, 1999, pg. A6
Support technical colleges
APRIL is Technical College Month, an event that seems especially appropriate to celebrate in Maine, where the technical college system has been a bright spot in a state with traditionally low rates of higher education. The accessibility, low cost and continuing efforts of technical colleges to improve their services are achievements of which we can all be proud.
Soon, because of the combined efforts of the Technical College System and the University of Maine System, a community college education will be available in Maine for the first time. This combined effort should result in an increased rate of higher education, and subsequently better job opportunities, for thousands of Maine residents.
Meanwhile, the Legislature has been focusing considerable attention, and funding, on improving the existing technical college system. This week, the appropriations committee heard sponsors plead their cases for LDs 614, 565 and 1701. The total of these bills is more than $60 million, a staggering sum, but one which should not frighten off legislators.
Educating students to compete in today's high-tech environment is not an inexpensive undertaking. LD 614 addresses the need for adding computers and other equipment to laboratories and libraries with more than $26 million in funding. LD 565 is similar to LD 614, but includes a matching grant requirement by the technical colleges.
We need more facilities to accommodate the increased demand for high-tech training. According to John Fitzsimmons, president of the Technical College System, studies done in the 1990s show that Maine should be prepared to educate more than 10,000 students in its technical colleges. The current capacity is 5,400.
We cannot let them down by failing to fund Maine's technical colleges.