Photos by Travis Long - tlong@newsobserver.com
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, center, talks with, from left, Wake Tech President Stephen Scott, Student Government Association President Melissa Reeves and former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt.
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan came to Wake Tech on Tuesday to tout the president's jobs plan and talk about the importance of community colleges to the nation's economic recovery.
At an hourlong town hall-style meeting attended by about 200 faculty, students and local business leaders, Duncan said the American Jobs Act would pump $60 billion into education. That includes $30 billion to save teacher jobs, $25 billion for renovation of K-12 schools and $5 billion for community college construction.
President Barack Obama's $447 billion jobs bill has met stiff resistance in Congress, where Republicans initially blocked the plan and then rejected Democrats' attempts to pass it piece by piece.
Duncan on Tuesday acknowledged that the bill has an uphill battle. But he found a friendly audience at Wake Tech, where the college's president, Stephen Scott, stressed that 8,000 students were on a waiting list for classes last fall, and 5,000 couldn't get in this fall.
"This is the right investment," Duncan said. "Those 5,000 people who want to come back to school here, those are community assets. Those are the future nurses, law enforcement officials and IT professionals who this community desperately needs to have a thriving and vibrant economy. When we deny them opportunity, we're not helping anybody."
Duncan called the nation's community colleges "the unrecognized gem" of the education sector. He said the campuses are"baby United Nations" that become economic engines by training students at a low cost and connecting them to job opportunities.
Duncan said he wants to help community colleges build capacity to serve more students and help families get back on their feet. "The only way we strengthen the economy and strengthen our country is through great education," Duncan said.
He said the jobs bill would bring $163 million to North Carolina community colleges. He spoke at Wake Tech's Public Safety Education campus, a converted warehouse on Chapanoke Road. The building is unfinished, and Scott said Wake Tech's overall construction needs are about $335 million.
More students are attending community colleges before universities because of the cost. And crowding is a problem at Wake Tech, said Fiaunna Shivers, who is studying business administration. "We have less parking spaces, more students and more waiting lists," she said.
She supports the jobs bill but wonders why there isn't more private investment in education and why the state lottery hasn't solved the education funding issue. Education should be the last place to cut, she said. "If you want business to boom and you want a booming economy, then you're going to make sure that your society is well-educated to fuel that economy."
