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Georgia: Word to tech colleges: Get on board, or get left behind

By: Chloé Morrison
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Jeff King

ROCK SPRING, Ga. — Three new members sworn in to serve on Northwestern Technical College’s board of directors went right into talk of unpleasant realities Monday night.

The budget crisis will likely get worse before improving, and mergers of a number of technical colleges are inevitable, the board was told.

The board of directors of the Technical College System of Georgia on Sept. 4 approved a plan to consolidate the administrations of 14 technical colleges into seven to save money.

Northwestern Technical is among them. It is to be placed under the administrative umbrella of Coosa Valley Technical College in Rome.

“Our situation is not what any of us would have chosen,” said Jeff King, interim Northwestern president. “This is not pleasant.”

Northwestern, operating under an interim president since the retirement in February of Ray Brooks, was picked in part because it did not have a president in place, by some early accounts. Mr. King’s job will likely be among those cut to save money.

Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) officials maintain consolidating 14 schools into seven is good business practice, eliminating duplication and saving $3.5 million.

Some are not convinced, saying the long-term costs — especially for Walker, Catoosa, Dade and Chattooga counties — will outweigh the short-term savings.

New board member Neal Florence, the mayor of LaFayette, was taking exception to the system board’s action just minutes after he was sworn in. He said he does not support the consolidation.

“What can we do to avoid this?” Mr. Florence asked.

But according to Mr. King, the word from TCSG Commissioner Ron Jackson is, “Folks, the train has left the station.”

Georgia’s revenue shortfall approaching $2 billion already for the fiscal year that started July 1 is forcing drastic spending cuts across state government.

“State law does not allow for the year to end with a deficit, and we are almost 25 percent through this fiscal year,” Mr. King said.

Rep. Jay Neal, R-LaFayette, blamed the state’s budget shortfalls on faulty projections by economists.

“We set that budget based on the experts’ opinions,” he said. “Instead of seeing the growth they anticipated, we not only did not reach those growth goals, but started off the year with declines.”

In addition to the mergers, the TCSG is being asked to make other cuts to trim $21.3 million off its budget for a cut of 6 percent. Depending on how the state revenue picture continues, the requested cuts may be increased to 8 or 10 percent.

“Deeper cuts are likely,” Mr. King said.

Northwestern’s cost-savings measures are taking a bite out of the college’s presence in the region. The school is eliminating landscaping services, reducing billboard advertisements, eliminating its commercial truck driving instruction program, reducing printing orders and leaving unfilled one open administrative position.

The school will save $100,000 by putting more information online rather than mailing out fliers, Mr. King said.

Dr. Brooks, the former president, said what will be saved by the consolidation is nothing compared to what will be lost.

“My opinion is not going to change,” said Dr. Brooks, who led the college for 22 years. “This is the wrong thing for the region.”

At Monday’s board meeting, aside from the questioning by Mr. Florence, members were mostly silent or resigned to the merger.

Members of the TCSG board have not responded to numerous phone calls made by the Times Free Press seeking comment.

TCSG spokesman Mike Light said the worries generated by the merger plan are unfounded.

“Wait and see what the result is going to be. We are creating the fifth largest college in the system,” he said about the Northwestern and Coosa Valley merger.

“The true winners going to emerge are the students,” he said, falling back to a theme defenders of the merger plan have pitched from the start.

Mr. King, meanwhile, said he is focused on the future.

He said officials already are working to turn in the paperwork to the Commission of Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. To become accredited as a newly combined institution — likely with a new name — the college must get the paperwork submitted by next month, Mr. King said.

Mr. Light said the community services and support that Northwest Georgia has come to expect from the technical college will not be lost, adding that nothing will change.

Asked how he knows nothing will change, Mr. Light said that was a “strange” question.

“We run the college system here,” he said. “We are going to make sure it happens that way.”

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