Full Text of SR0303 96th General Assembly
SR0303 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| SENATE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, There are 39 public community college districts | 3 |
| serving all 102 counties within the State of Illinois; and
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| WHEREAS, Within the 39 community college districts, there | 5 |
| are 48 community colleges, serving nearly one million | 6 |
| Illinoisans annually; and
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| WHEREAS, Over the past decade, enrollment at the 48 | 8 |
| community colleges has increased by more than 20%, and the role | 9 |
| of the community college has expanded dramatically; and
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| WHEREAS, The system serves displaced workers, students in | 11 |
| adult education, students learning English as their second | 12 |
| language, students seeking transfer degrees, students seeking | 13 |
| certificates and degrees for immediate employment, and | 14 |
| students with degrees returning to upgrade skills; and
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| WHEREAS, 81.2% of all high school remediation is done at | 16 |
| community colleges, making the colleges the frontlines for | 17 |
| ensuring that students have the technical aptitude, including | 18 |
| functional math and science knowledge, to fill jobs; and
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| WHEREAS, More than 75% of all minorities in Illinois public | 20 |
| higher education attend a community college; and
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| WHEREAS, In the Fall of 2007, total enrollment figures for | 2 |
| Illinois community colleges showed that just under 40% of its | 3 |
| students were minority students; and
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| WHEREAS, Nearly 12,500 students with disabilities and | 5 |
| 66,000 students with limited English proficiency are served | 6 |
| annually at an Illinois community college; and
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| WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that by the | 8 |
| end of this decade, 85% of all jobs in the State of Illinois | 9 |
| that are capable of sustaining a middle-class lifestyle will | 10 |
| require access to post-secondary education; and
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| WHEREAS, According to an economic impact study done by the | 12 |
| Northern Illinois University Center for Governmental Studies | 13 |
| in 2007, more than 8 out of 10 employers hired a community | 14 |
| college student at some point during the 10-year timeframe of | 15 |
| the study; and during that same timeframe, there was a 62.9% | 16 |
| increase in students completing community college programs; | 17 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, According to the study done by Northern Illinois | 19 |
| University, students who completed their Illinois community | 20 |
| college education in Fiscal Year 2005 and worked full-time | 21 |
| realized a 31% increase in earnings over their pre-enrollment |
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| wages; and over the course of a lifetime, a 25-year-old | 2 |
| graduate can expect to see a 55% increase over the projected | 3 |
| $1.2 million in total earnings he or she would have earned had | 4 |
| he or she not completed an Illinois community college program; | 5 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, President Obama has urged every American to commit | 7 |
| to at least one year of postsecondary education, and according | 8 |
| to Georgetown University's Center for Education and the | 9 |
| Workforce, at least 54% of the new positions created by the | 10 |
| federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will | 11 |
| require at least a postsecondary certificate; and
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| WHEREAS, In the State of Illinois, 64% of all students | 13 |
| attending public institutions of higher education attend a | 14 |
| community college, while only 13% of State instructional | 15 |
| funding is appropriated to community colleges; and
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| WHEREAS, The philosophy of funding community colleges' | 17 |
| dates back to 1965 when the Public Community College Act was | 18 |
| created, and it is based on the concept of shared | 19 |
| responsibility between the State, local community college | 20 |
| district residents, and students; and
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| WHEREAS, The generally accepted goal of one-third of the | 22 |
| costs being distributed equally has shifted to a burden on |
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| students and local taxpayers; the current statewide funding | 2 |
| ratio is 40% local taxes, 32% student tuition, and 28% State | 3 |
| funds; and
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| WHEREAS, Nine out of 10 Illinois community college | 5 |
| graduates live, work, pay taxes, and raise their families in | 6 |
| Illinois; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL | 8 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that there is created a Task | 9 |
| Force on Illinois Community College System Funding for the | 10 |
| purpose of reviewing the present community college system and | 11 |
| making recommendations to the Senate pertaining to whether the | 12 |
| community college system is adequately funded; and be it | 13 |
| further
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| RESOLVED, That the Task Force on Illinois Community College | 15 |
| System Funding shall study the impact that the present funding | 16 |
| system for community colleges has on both regional and racial | 17 |
| diversity in the Illinois community college system today, | 18 |
| including, but not limited to, reviewing the process of how | 19 |
| community college capital projects are ranked by priority, and | 20 |
| make recommendations regarding any improvements that are | 21 |
| necessary to make the funding system more equitable; and be it | 22 |
| further
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| RESOLVED, That the Task Force on the Illinois Community | 2 |
| College System Funding shall consist of the following members: | 3 |
| (1) 2 co-chairpersons, each a member of the Senate, | 4 |
| with one appointed by the President of the Senate and one | 5 |
| appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate; | 6 |
| (2) 4 spokespersons, with 2 appointed by the President | 7 |
| of the Senate and 2 appointed by the Minority Leader of the | 8 |
| Senate; | 9 |
| (3) 2 members of the Illinois Community College Board | 10 |
| appointed by the Illinois Community College Board; | 11 |
| (4) 2 members who are statewide educational labor union | 12 |
| representatives from a 2-year higher education | 13 |
| institution, with each member appointed by the union that | 14 |
| he or she represents; | 15 |
| (5) 2 community college trustees appointed by the | 16 |
| Illinois Community College Trustees Association; and | 17 |
| (6) 4 chief fiscal officers of Illinois community | 18 |
| colleges from the following regional areas of the State: | 19 |
| (i) one chief fiscal officer from the City Colleges of | 20 |
| Chicago appointed by the Chancellor of the City Colleges of | 21 |
| Chicago; (ii) one chief fiscal officer from a community | 22 |
| college in a non-metropolitan county in the central region | 23 |
| of the State, as determined and appointed by the Illinois | 24 |
| Community College Board; (iii) one chief fiscal officer | 25 |
| from a community college in a non-metropolitan county in | 26 |
| the southern region of the State, as determined and |
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| appointed by the Illinois Community College Board; and (iv) | 2 |
| one chief fiscal officer from a community college in a | 3 |
| metropolitan county in the northern region of the State, as | 4 |
| determined and appointed by the Illinois Community College | 5 |
| Board; and be it further | 6 |
| RESOLVED, That the members of the Task Force on Illinois | 7 |
| Community College System Funding shall serve on a voluntary | 8 |
| basis and shall be responsible for any costs associated with | 9 |
| their participation on the task force; and be it further | 10 |
| RESOLVED, That the Task Force on Illinois Community College | 11 |
| System Funding shall meet initially at the call of the | 12 |
| co-chairpersons of the task force, in consultation with the | 13 |
| Chairperson of the Illinois Community College Board, and | 14 |
| thereafter as necessary and shall report its findings and | 15 |
| recommendations to the Senate by filing a copy of its report | 16 |
| with the Secretary of the Senate no later than December 31, | 17 |
| 2009; and that upon filing its report, the task force is | 18 |
| dissolved; and be it further | 19 |
| RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 20 |
| delivered to the Chairperson of the Illinois Community College | 21 |
| Board, the Illinois Community College Trustees Association, | 22 |
| and the Chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago.
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