PrintNot many people know this, but the state's Community College System has cut dozens of programs during the past 10 years.
The reason you probably didn't hear about that is because it replaced those programs with others that had more student interest and were more directly linked with post-graduation jobs.
That kind of flexibility and responsiveness to the marketplace is part of what makes the Community College System a bright spot on the state government horizon.
Despite facing the same budget cuts that plague the rest of state government, the Community College System is growing -- serving 62 percent more students than its first year and 16 percent more than last year alone.
It is providing an important service, post-secondary education, that improves job skills at a price that cannot be challenged in the marketplace.
A full year at a community college in Maine is $2,500, about a quarter of the price of admission to the state university system. Three-quarters of community college students get financial aid. Of the system's graduates, 94 percent are placed in a job or a four-year school to continue their educations.
WORK WITH PRIVATE FUNDERS
The Community College System has successfully worked with partners outside government. Programs are financed by hospitals in need of trained technicians and the automotive industry, which needs trained mechanics.
Using a $6.2 million grant from the Bernard Osher Foundation, the community colleges have offered scholarships and support services like child care to students from rural areas where the poverty rate is double that of urban and suburban Maine.
The system also takes programs directly to rural areas to retrain displaced workers.
It is a success because it has a clear mission and can quickly respond to changing demand.
The University of Maine System struggles in both areas.
Finishing a yearlong process to fix a projected $42 million hole in its budget, the university system is facing the likelihood that what it has done may not be enough.
For political reasons, Chancellor Richard Pattenaude put the number of campuses and presidents off-limits for restructuring talks, promising to keep both numbers at seven while looking elsewhere for cuts.
Even though the university system is instituting sweeping changes and has received concessions from its unions, the changes look insignificant when compared to the deterioration of state finances.
Enrollments in the university system are down, tuition rates are climbing, and it lacks the national reputation needed to attract lucrative out-of-state students in big enough numbers to offset other revenue shortfalls.
EACH PLAYS A ROLE
The Community College System has an entirely different set of challenges and fills a different role for the state, but its success shows that it pays to focus on what works.
Lawmakers should put petty local politics aside and consider again how to best focus the University of Maine System's mission, putting the emphasis on advanced degrees and high-quality research and not preserving every local campus. A study of the system's future shouldn't start with any options off the table.
In the meantime, Mainers can be proud of their Community College System, which continues to find a way to expand and meet the needs of the state while resources are scarce.
Nothing is more important than climbing out of this recession, and the Community College System is providing a base of skilled workers who are already filling jobs that will meet that goal.