Top education leaders hold panel discussion
By Steve Herring
Published in News on December 8, 2016 10:00 AM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Dr. Thomas A. Walker Jr., president of Wayne Community College, left, and Dr. Michael Dunsmore, superintendent of Wayne County Public Schools, right, listen as Dr. Phillip Kertsetter, University of Mount Olive president, responds to questions from the audience during the Education Hot Topic program sponsored by the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce Wednesday at Lane Tree Golf Club.
Wayne County's top three education leaders Wednesday were questioned about issues ranging from cooperation and collaboration, the state budget and coping with rapidly changing technologies.
Dr. Michael Dunsmore, Wayne County Public Schools superintendent; Dr. Philip Kerstetter, University of Mount Olive president; and Dr. Thomas A. Walker Jr., Wayne Community College president, were the panelists for the Education Hot Topic program sponsored by the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce and held at Lane Tree Golf Club.
Chamber Chairman Neal Benton said that non high school graduates make about 50 percent less than high school graduates.
Also, 31 percent of high school dropouts live below the poverty line and 82 percent of inmates in correctional facilities did not graduate high school, Benton said.
They are 62 percent more likely to be incarcerated than college graduates, he said.
"When you compare high school dropouts to high school graduates, it is estimated it will cost the taxpayers $292,00o over their lifetime when compared to someone who has a high school diploma," Benton said. "This takes into account things such as incarceration, government assistance and other factors such as drawing less pay.
"So a skilled workforce and an educated workforce are the cornerstones of a thriving economy, and it just improves the overall quality of life for our residents," he said. "So we need to be focused on the children in our schools today because they will be our workforce and leaders of tomorrow. For this reason the Wayne County Chamber invests in education through the Wayne Education Network."
The panelists agreed that cooperation and collaboration is vital since no one entity has everything it needs.
In collaborating with Wayne County Public Schools last year there were 700 public school students earning college credit at WCC, Walker said.
That represents a 29 percent increase over the past three years.
Also, UMO has a strong articulation agreement with WCC that allows students to move seamlessly to the four-year, institution, he said.
Dunsmore said the school system's Early Middle College is one of the finest such programs in the country.
It is a bridge to a four-year institution, he said.
UMO is a partner in the Wayne Education Network and works closely with the school system, WCC and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base where it has classes, too, Kerstetter said.
UMO is a "gem" for the county in that it opens its facilities for use by schools for graduations and other programs.
It also provides a variety of free cultural events, Kerstetter said.
All three educators said they are affected by the ebb and flow of both state and federal budgets.
The county school system's budget is approximately $160 million of which $120 million comes from the state, Dunsmore said. Nearly 70 percent goes to salary and benefits, he said.
Dunsmore said he does not have flexibility on how to use the money.
The money is allotted to specific areas and any surplus has to be returned to the state since it cannot be spent in another area, he said.
Dunsmore said he works very closely with state representatives because they are not in education and do not understand the overall impact of the different things they look at.
"We try to get the information out there to them so that they will understand what our needs are that they are funding," he said. "One area we are working closely with them now is on our class sizes and teacher assistant allotments.
"They want to lower our class sizes, which is a wonderful thing. I am all for it. In Wayne County if they go from our allotment, which is 24 students in the lower elementary grades to where they want it -- we will need 93 classrooms. I don't have 93 classrooms."
Even as a private institution UMO can be impacted by state budget changes, Kerstetter said.
Years ago the state established what is basically a legislative tuition grant in which North Carolina students attending a private institution in the state could receive a grant, he said.
The rationale was that was cheaper for the state than having to build more buildings to house students at state universities.
However, over the past couple of years the program has changed from an outright grant to all need-based funding, he said.
That means there are a number of students who are no longer eligible, he said.
That has impacted UMO, he said.
"One of the decisions by the state was to charge taxes on our board plans," Kerstetter said. "So that means all of our board plans went up by over 7 percent, and we had no control on that because that was a mandatory charge for our students."
It came at a time when the university was trying to keep any increases at 3 percent or less.
"I will tell you the one that is probably the most difficult for me right now is the recent measure passed in the last legislative session that was trying to encourage enrollment at Elizabeth City State University, UNC-Pembroke and with Western Carolina," he said. "The bill that passed reduced tuition at those institutions to $500 a semester."
That is less than what is charged per semester by a community college, Kerstetter said.
While UMO is competitive with public sector schools there is no way it can match that, he said.
WCC has some of the same concerns as the public schools, Walker said.
The state budget accounts for 62 percent of WCC's budget, he said. Another 11 percent comes from the county and the rest are institutional which includes student fees and Pell grants.
The institutional funds are about the only place where WCC has any flexibility, he said.
"So any impact on state budget impacts us greatly," he said.
Salary has had a major impact on morale, which in turn impacts the school's ability to retain talented teachers -- a problems shared with the public schools, Walker said.
Another way the budget impact WCC is facilities, he said. In North Carolina, facilities are the responsibility of the county, Walker said.
"We get great support from the county, but you can't get new buildings without the aid of a bond," he said. "Also, I have to watch how the state budget impacts the county.
"What happens is the college has almost had to increase the number of students it is able to retain and enroll just to maintain the budget it had the year before. So we are serving more students with less, and just about every year we get some new unfunded mandate."