The NCCCS recently released a rural health care partnerships toolkit, calling it a resource for leaders in health care organizations, community colleges, and other workforce and educational settings invested in filling the rural health care professionals pipeline.

The new resource was created by the Rural Postsecondary Practices Partnership (RP3) , a collaborative group including the NCCCS, the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research, EducationNC, and myFutureNC.

The toolkit highlights how numerous collaborative partnerships across North Carolina’s rural-serving community colleges are engaged in to meet health care labor market needs.

These include “cross-sector partnerships involving employers, two-and four-year colleges and universities, K-12 schools and districts, and other community-based organizations,” the press release says.

RP3 identified partnerships and strategies involving more than 35 of North Carolina’s rural-serving community colleges through publicly available information and conversations with college leaders.

You can read more about the toolkit on EdNC’s website.

The North Carolina Republican-led House successfully overrode the governor’s veto of a wide-ranging omnibus bill on Wednesday that includes various regulatory changes that impact the power of several incoming Democratic elected officials.

The veto was overridden by the House along party lines, with a 72-46 vote. The three Republicans representing western North Carolina who previously voted against the bill — Reps. Mike Clampitt, Karl Gillespie, and Mark Pless — each voted to override the veto on Wednesday.

Though “Disaster Relief” is part of the bill’s title, the vast majority of the bill does not explicitly deal with hurricane aid. The bill transfers $227 million to the Hurricane Helene fund for future allocations, and appropriates $27 million to the Department of Agriculture for debris removal and technical assistance. The remainder of the 131-page bill deals with various budget and regulatory changes.

Because the Republic-led Senate also voted to override the legislation, Senate Bill 382, on Dec. 2, the bill will now become law.

Here’s a look at education items in Senate Bill 382:

The omnibus bill does not include any new Helene aid for public schools or community colleges.

However, the bill does allocate $33.75 million to the Department of Health and Human Services to provide child care programs with stabilization grants for another three months beyond December, through March 2025.

Advocates were asking for $100 million to extend the grants beyond December, with the hope that next year’s long legislative session will bring more funding. Program closures and tuition hikes for parents are likely without additional funding, EdNC previously reported.

The bill does extend compensation for public school districts in Helene-impacted counties through November. Initial rounds of hurricane relief provided compensation for September and October.

The bill also includes several policy changes for K-12 public schools and the Department of Public Instruction (DPI).

First, the bill removes power from the state superintendent — incoming Democratic Superintendent Mo Green — to appeal a final decision by the Charter School Review Board related to grants, renewals, revocations, or amendments of charters. Now, only applicants or charter schools can appeal a final decision by the board.

The bill also moves the Center for Safer Schools from DPI’s authority to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). According to its website, the center is “a statewide customer-focused school safety and crisis prevention resource for over 2500 public schools.”

In the postsecondary space, the bill amends previously awarded grants to two community colleges, transfers up to $1 million to the NCCCS to “conduct a digital credential pilot program with a digital credential provider,” and expands the Career and College Ready Graduate program.

Read the full article on EdNC’s website. 

Gov. Roy Cooper declared 2024 the “Year of Public Schools” in January amid travel he began in 2023 after Republican legislators introduced and passed a large expansion of Opportunity Scholarships, state-funded vouchers for students to attend private schools.

Cooper, a Democrat, was elected in 2016 after placing public education investment at the center of his campaign. He leaves office eight years later as billions in funding are planned to exponentially expand private school vouchers over the next decade. The expansion could lead to up to $100 million in losses for public schools within the first year, predicts an analysis from the Office of State Budget and Management.

“We are working hard to dispel the false narrative that public schools are failing,” Cooper said in an exclusive interview with EdNC.

Cooper has also spent time and resources on postsecondary attainment and community college investment during his tenure.

On Tuesday, he pointed to his office’s work on Finish Line Grants, a program that sent funding to community college students who are experiencing unexpected financial hardship and are close to completing a credential or degree.

In 2018, Cooper started the program with federal funding from the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act under the state Department of Commerce, and he allocated another $14.5 million in federal funding to the program in 2022.

It now lives at the N.C. Community College System, with the system’s state board allocating $3.75 million in 2022. The program has served more than 16,000 students, Cooper said on Tuesday.

In 2021, Cooper used another set of federal funding, from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund, to create the Longleaf Commitment program, providing tuition assistance to 2021 high school graduates (at least $2,800 per family) to attend any community college. That fall, the state’s budget, which Cooper signed, expanded the program to another class of high school seniors.

Read the full article at EdNC.org.

Bidders’ Conference | The NCCCS will host a Bidders’ Conference for the 2025-2029 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) grant application. The event is scheduled for Jan. 27, 2025.

Reentry 2030 Progress Report | The first Reentry 2030 Progress Report has been released. The report provides a scorecard of progress made, state reentry accomplishments, and recommendations to the General Assembly. Cooper said in a press release that the Reentry 2030 Initiative is the right thing to do for our state, giving people “opportunities to be ready for release from prison with strategies to take care of themselves and their responsibilities along with the training to get a job.”

Student success | Catawba Valley Community College and the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC) recognized the first NCDAC students to complete courses through Catawba Valley’s Furniture Academy. The new workforce development program offers “eligible individuals in work-release programs the opportunity to gain up to 1,500 hours of comprehensive furniture industry training,” according to a college press release.

Apprenticeships | Cleveland Community College recently announced a one-year Radiography appenticeship program in partnership with CaroMont Health, according to a college email release.

Partnerships | Cape Fear Community College (CFCC) and the College of Health and Human Services at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) are partnering to implement the “Try Teal” program — a program aimed at addressing the critical nursing shortage. 

Transfer Agreements | Sandhills Community College and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte entered into a three-year agreement with the 49erNext Co-Admissions program. 

Catawba Valley Community College students pursuing a degree in automative technology can now transfer to Weber University to pursue a bachelor’s in automative technology.

McDowell Technical Community College and Appalachian State University are formally partnering through the Aspire Appalachian program, “a four-year college transfer program which provides a streamlined path students enrolled in community colleges to complete their bachelor’s degrees” at App State. 

Recognitions | Thirty finalists have been named for the 2025 Bellwether Awards. Several North Carolina community colleges are among the finalists, including: Blue Ridge, Catawba Valley, Cleveland, Forsyth Technical, Isothermal, Southwestern, and Stanly community colleges.

College of The Albemarle (COA) announced its recent designation as a Top Ten 2024-2025 Military Spouse Friendly® School. 

Research brief | This brief from the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research outlines how Stanly Community College leaders are raising the success rate for students in English 111 courses. The article offers guiding questions for college leaders who are considering a similar approach on their campuses. 

Helene updates | Southeastern Community College adopted Blue Ridge Community College in an effort to bring warm clothes and blankets to the impacted area after Hurricane Helene.

Chancellor search | Elizabeth City State University is searching for its next chancellor. More information about the search process will be available on the school’s website.