The Northeast Texas Community College Board of Trustees met for its regular October meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 22nd. All seven trustees were in attendance. The meeting opened with Dr. Ron Clinton giving the President’s Report.
President’s Report
Clinton said that fall second eight-week classes are officially underway and preliminary reports show a 17.7% enrollment increase for the fall second eight-weeks over the same term last year. He reported that NTCC’s efforts to move more classes to an eight-week format (as opposed to traditional 16-week courses) has been well received by both students and faculty. Total fall 2024 enrollment (all sessions) increased 6.24% from fall 2023.
In legislative news, Clinton shared the priorities that the Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) will focus on for the upcoming legislative session. The main focus will be to make improvements and clarifications to HB8, which dictates how Texas community colleges are funded. HB8 passed in the last legislative session and moved colleges to a new performance-based funding model. While the transition to HB8 funding has largely been positive, Clinton stated that there have been some growing pains with implementation.
“The most pressing issue that needs to be addressed is a roughly $40 million shortfall in funding for the current biennium. Essentially, colleges exceeded the initial performance predictions and this has led to a deficit in the funding model. We will be asking our legislators to fund that shortage and uphold the spirit of a truly performance-based model,” Clinton said. Other TACC priorities will include issues like nursing clinical site regulation, workforce partnerships and credentials, student mental health and more.
Clinton also highlighted some recent campus accomplishments/events including the very successful college rodeo, Phi Theta Kappa students winning regional and national honors and the upcoming Scare Affair that is planned for October 26th.
In Foundation news, Dr. Jon McCullough, NTCC Executive Vice President for Advancement, said that $113,277 was received in gifts and grants during the month of September.
Items of Information (no action taken)
Under Items of Information, Dr. Kevin Rose, NTCC Senior Vice President for Student Success, gave three mandated annual reports. The first was the College Access and Affordability Report. This report shows the relative affordability of NTCC when compared to other institutions at both the state and national levels.
Rose then presented the Perkins Grant report. The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education (CTE) grant is a federal, non-competitive grant that provides much-needed support for workforce and health science programs. NTCC received a record $292,188 in Perkins funds for the 24-25 fiscal year.
“Perkins funds are vital to our operations at NTCC, especially in Workforce. This grant allows us to purchase state-of-the-art equipment and remain ahead of the curve in adapting to changing industry standards,” Rose said.
The third report Rose presented was the Safety and Security Audit for 2021-2024. He said that this is a self-audit that covers all areas of safety and security on campus. He said that NTCC reported compliance in all but a couple of areas that involved drill procedures in outreach centers and specifics in the prevention plan. Police Chief Russell Radke will be working with administration to remedy these issues as he moves forward with the development of the new campus police department.
“NTCC has been proactive in improving safety and security on campus throughout the last three years. With that being said, there is always room for growth and we want to make sure that our self-audit is an accurate representation of where we are at this time,” Rose said.
Action Items
Under action items, the board approved the consent agenda and opted to table an item that involved an Easement Agreement for Transmission Lines with Prairie Branch Solar LLC. They then approved hiring Stansell Construction to begin work on an outdoor pavilion project that will be an extension of the Student Union Building. They approved the cost of $195,373, which will be paid for with federal Title V funds.
“We are excited about this new outdoor learning space that will really enhance our student experience. This was a major focus of our Title V grant and we are looking forward to seeing this vision come to life very soon,” Clinton said.
Personnel Action
Under personnel action items, the board approved releasing a College Navigator from their employment contract and hired Zach Branham to fill the vacant College Navigator position.
The board called an executive session to discuss real estate and personnel items. When they reconvened the meeting, Chairman Chuck Johns announced that a three-person subcommittee consisting of trustees Robin Sharp, Chad Elledge and Russell East will be charged with beginning the presidential search process. Clinton announced his intention to retire in summer of 2025 at the previous meeting.
There was no other action or discussion, so the meeting was adjourned.
