Nursing students tout diabetes control

Governors and business leaders urge colleges to work more closely with public schools

Texas community college enrollment up, funding down

Nursing students tout diabetes control

If this area's state legislators didn't know about the ravages of diabetes prior to this month, they certainly do now.

That's because a Henderson Community College nursing professor and 14 second-year nursing students went to Frankfort to present the lawmakers with statistics, personal stories about their work with diabetes patients, and a plea for more state funding for diabetes prevention and control.

That increase is way overdue, Siewert points out, and desperately needed because an estimated one in eight adult Kentuckians has diabetes and some of them don't even know it yet. The disease, if left untreated, can result in blindness, limb amputation, kidney failure and heart disease.

The nursing students -- who made the trip on their own time and at their own expense -- cited the $2.4 billion cost of diabetes in this state annually.

According to the state Diabetes Prevention and Control program, there were more than 91,000 diabetes-related hospitalizations in Kentucky in 2001.

Siewert says the students' pleas were well received by the legislators, "who were very supportive" and had granted appointments to the future nurses. "Everyone we spoke to was in favor of support," the professor said, adding that the lawmakers indicated they will be for increased funding for diabetes prevention and control -- if those dollars can be found in ailing state coffers.

The local delegation was part of statewide rally for diabetes aid last week, and was one of the larger groups to meet with legislators. The students, who are from Henderson, Union and Webster counties, are: Lori Vinson, Jarrett Workins, Syble Lowry, Danielle Blake, Agnes Poe, Lydia Luntsford, Beth Branson, Alison Connaway, Cynthia Gallandt, Fallon Belt, Brooke Van Sickle, Lacee Brisby, Lance Noel and Kimberly Toombs.

Siewert said the Henderson County Diabetes Coalition works hard on behalf of local diabetic needs through emergency assistance with insulin and blood monitoring equipment purchases. She said that last year the non-profit group of volunteers spent more than $20,000 to meet under-served individuals who have no insurance or insufficient funds to pay for vital supplies.

The coalition sponsors fund-raisers such as the annual Diabetes Bash in Central Park.

Siewert said the nursing students are continuing their diabetes support efforts. "They'll be calling the legislators to see how the process is going, and try to stay on their heels about it."

That's important, she said, because the diabetes problem in Kentucky and the rest of the nation has reached epidemic proportions and will worsen with the aging population and rise in obesity.

Siewert said the institutions that will employ the issue-conscious nursing students will be lucky to get them because they have a demonstrated commitment "to go the extra mile for patients."

The Chronicle of Higher Education
February 23, 2005

Governors and business leaders urge colleges to work more closely with public schools

States should adopt new policies to better prepare high-school students to succeed in college and the work force and to more closely link higher education with public elementary and secondary schools, governors and business executives said on Tuesday in a preview of this week's national education summit on high schools.

Leaders of the National Governors Association and Achieve, a nonprofit group created by governors and business officials to raise academic standards, announced a five-point agenda for how they want states to improve their high schools and said that the agenda would frame their summit, to be held here this weekend. Most of the nation's governors, as well as business and education leaders, are expected to attend.

"The agenda we are revealing today is crucial to the future of our nation," said Gov. Mark R. Warner, Democrat of Virginia, who is chairman of the governors' association. "We have too many kids still falling through the cracks."

The agenda includes a recommendation that states find ways to unify the governance of higher education and of public elementary and secondary schools, a goal that Mr. Warner said could be among the most difficult of the summit leaders' proposals to achieve. States could streamline governance, the agenda suggests, by setting up a single board, commission, or similar statewide group that would have authority over all levels of education or that at least would routinely bring together officials from schools and colleges for policy discussions.

The summit leaders also are urging states to hold colleges and high schools more accountable for improving students' rates of success. States, for instance, should seek to improve retention and graduation rates at two- and four-year colleges and set 5-year and 10-year goals for such factors as postsecondary-enrollment and college-completion rates, the agenda says.

The agenda also calls on states to:

Do more to help all students prepare for college or the workplace, in part by requiring all high-school students to take college-preparatory courses.

Redesign high schools so that they offer more opportunities for students to earn college credit or to pursue training to win certification for certain technical jobs, while also providing better support for low-performing students.

Give high schools more top-quality teachers and principals by raising the standards for licensing and improving professional development.

In unveiling their priorities, the summit leaders also released a summary of national data -- compiled from several national education groups, the U.S. government, and other sources -- on the nation's education pipeline. They said the statistics demonstrate why the discussions about improving high schools have become urgent.

The data show, for instance, that nearly half of American students who enter a four-year college fail to earn a degree within six years and that less than one-fifth of the nation's high-school freshmen end up completing a college degree in a timely manner. In addition, the numbers indicate that the nation, as a whole, has not made progress over the last decade in improving high-school graduation rates.

"The problem is even more serious than we previously thought," said Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican of Ohio and co-chairman of Achieve. "The summit is an opportunity to set a clear, common agenda of action steps."

Mr. Taft and Mr. Warner said that they wanted to use the summit to help propel a national conversation about how states and their education leaders could turn a lot of recent rhetoric into actual improvements.

The governors said they hoped that the summit would help mobilize support for policies that would ultimately lead to such improvements as a reduced need for remedial courses in colleges, better methods for collecting data to measure states' progress on education, and new reward systems for universities that increase the number of teachers they graduate who specialize in critically needed areas, such as mathematics and science.

Last month Mr. Warner released a list of 10 relatively inexpensive steps that he said governors could take in the short run to improve high schools. For instance, he said, state leaders could forge an agreement among colleges and high schools, as he has in Virginia, that would spell out a set of advanced courses that juniors and seniors could take in high school for college credit.

"This is not a problem for a few states or a few companies," said Arthur F. Ryan, chairman and chief executive of Prudential Financial Inc. and co-chairman of Achieve. "It is a national challenge, and we need to begin to treat it that way."

The full texts of the summit's agenda and the 10 steps suggested by Governor Warner are available on the governors' association's Web site. These documents can be viewed using Adobe Reader, available free.

Community College Times
February 23, 2005

Texas community college enrollment up, funding down

Officials at Texas’ 50 community college districts worry that thousands of Texans might be left out as tuition increases and state funding decreases. All this is happening as the number of Texans enrolling in community colleges is rising.

By 2040, about 175,000 more Texans will enroll in community colleges than four-year universities, according to Steve Murdock, management science and statistics professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The growth, he said, results from the increasing population of minority Texans, many of whom are more likely to attend community college.

In 2003, lawmakers facing a budget shortfall slashed state funding for community colleges by nearly $60 million to $1.5 billion, then dropped it another $16.6 million the next year.

At the same time, enrollment increased at two-year colleges at a rate not seen in more than a decade. More than 500,000 students enrolled in 2003, compared to about 470,000 at public four-year universities.

"They just had the perfect mismatch of dollars and additional students in community colleges," said Deborah Greene, assistant commissioner for finance, campus planning and research at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

To keep the doors of higher education open, community college leaders say lawmakers need to hold up their end of the deal.

When Texas community colleges were started in 1969, the state was to pay instructional costs. Tuition and local property taxes levied by college districts would cover building and maintenance costs.

Historically, state funding has accounted for about 60 percent of community college revenue. After the 2003 cuts, 31 percent of the money came from the state, according to the Texas Association of Community Colleges.

Many schools have had to use tax and tuition money just to provide the classes for the influx of students, said Reynaldo Garcia, association president.

"That means they don’t have those funds for the purpose they were originally intended — building new buildings, keeping the buildings they have in good repair and new program development," Garcia said.

To fill the money gap, campuses are turning to students and taxpayers. Statewide, tuition and community college district property tax rates each climbed about 10 percent last year, Garcia said.

Galveston College, has been one of the hardest hit by state funding cuts. Tuition there more than tripled in 2003 after the state announced funding would decrease.

Elva Concha LeBlanc, Galveston College president, said the district hasn’t raised tax rates because tax rolls have grown and the rate is already high — 19.52 cents per $100 property valuation. Statewide, the average community college district tax rate is about 15 cents.

Administrators at Galveston also cut programs and classes.

"That’s been rough," she said. "We heard from them loudly the first time we adjusted the schedule."

If state funding continues to decline, LeBlanc said, the school may be forced to limit the number of students it accepts in its medical programs. As a product of community college herself, LeBlanc is loathe to restrict access.

The community college association says lawmakers need to provide the schools $318 million over what the 2003 Legislature appropriated. That’s a far cry from the $144 million the Legislative Budget Board has recommended to lawmakers.

Even that amount is not as much as it seems, community colleges say. Much of that money will be used to cover health insurance, because the budget board has also recommended reducing state funding for employee insurance.

LeBlanc said if the budget board’s recommendations are carried out, it’ll be another tough two years for Galveston College. The school's $13 million budget would be cut 15 percent and more program cuts would be made, she said.

Rep. Geanie Morrison, R-Victoria, who chairs the House higher education committee, said making sure community colleges can handle growth is vital for the state’s future economy and providing an educated workforce that can compete on a global scale.

Morrison is pushing for increased funding during the legislative session, but she acknowledged it could be difficult.

The vice chairman of the higher education committee, Republican Rep. Tony Goolsby of Dallas, was less hopeful.

"Colleges and universities are not going to get what they want or, quite frankly, what they need," he said. "They’re in for more belt tightening, and they’re going to have to do more with less."

Legislators should recognize that investing in an educated workforce will yield results for the state as a whole, as more tax-paying Texans help the state prosper, LeBlanc said.

"They need to think in terms of big picture — not only today, but the future and where they want Texas to be," LeBlanc said.