<< Previous   of   Next >>

ADVERTISEMENT

CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, News editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

Cuts at local colleges would be a disaster

Nobody has enough money.

Personal wealth is plunging, corporate success is teetering, schools are squeezing pennies, and our cities, our counties, our state, our country all seem to be -- in one way or another -- essentially broke.

Most of us are still wrestling with how to cope.

Our local community colleges, however, have already been told what they must do: Slash 20 percent from their budgets for the next two years, state lawmakers say.

The cuts are not final, and are subject to legislative approval this spring.

We hope approval is not forthcoming. Indeed, we believe such massive cuts would be a true disaster.

Here in Boeing's backyard, community colleges seem particularly important. Our workforce is our advantage, and while it springs from many places, our community colleges play an unquestionably important role.

It is a popular axiom that an agency "cannot cut its way to prosperity." That is a clever, if dubious, ploy. One man's impossible challenge is another's innovative opportunity.

But certainly in an academic setting, the promise of a cheaper prosperity rings particularly hollow.

Our country's success does not derive from our cheap labor pool, or our collective disregard for personal safety. We are an expensive lot. Where we succeed, it is because we are smarter.

It is in our schools, and particularly at our community colleges that we train, or retrain, our workforce. It is at our institutes of higher learning where we hone our heralded talents of innovation.

Those places need help. We need more math skills to keep pace.

Maybe, if we are smart enough, we will be able to find a few places where we can "cut to prosperity." But by starting at our community colleges, we clearly aren't going about it in the right way.