Community colleges’ vital role in shaping opportunity for all Texans
The following speech by Texas 2036 President and CEO David Leebron was given Aug. 1, 2024, to the Texas Association of Community Colleges’ Summer Meeting in Austin.
I spent the past 40 years in higher education, both as faculty and as an administrator. So what you all are doing to create opportunity and equality is truly near and dear to me. But in my time at wealthy and renowned institutions with four-year undergraduate programs, I saw both the enormous contributions they make to our society and the ways in which they are ill-equipped to scale up to truly extend opportunity to all and provide the workforce of the future that we actually need now.
Community colleges, or junior colleges as they were called then, were first established in the late 19th century with the idea that they would function as a two-year extension of high school, focused on academics and preparing students for further undergraduate coursework at four-year institutions. The junior colleges of the 19th century began their transformation into what we know today as community colleges just after World War II, when the GI Bill opened the doors of higher education to new students across the country. Since then, community colleges have continued to evolve, expanding in mission, enrollment and impact while deepening their connections to their surrounding communities.
Today, community colleges are the workforce engines of the 21st century. They play an increasingly vital role in equipping diverse populations — Texans from all walks of life, ages and backgrounds — with the knowledge, skills and experience they need to be successful in their lives and their careers. That is why we at Texas 2036 have made community colleges a priority as we advance in particular our education and workforce goals.
Community colleges and the next phase of workforce development
As you know, this summer I started a new chapter in my own career, transitioning from president of Rice University to president of Texas 2036. Let me take a moment to explain who we are and what we do, and why are unique in the landscape of Texas nonprofits. We are a nonpartisan public policy organization that is focused on advancing data-driven changes in law and policy that touch on those core policy areas that span the spectrum of issues that affect the opportunities and well-being of all Texans — education and workforce, health care, infrastructure and natural resources, justice and safety, and government performance and accountability.
We not only generate new ideas, we help put them into action by leveraging the extensive legislative and policy experience of our team who bring both deep subject matter expertise and broad networks throughout state government. Our aim is to build research-based policies, help drive their adoption by our state government, assure their implementation, and assess their impact. We thus work on every part of the policy pipeline, from identifying and bringing attention to major issues, formulating policy solutions, and moving those to implementation. Our work is not finished with one legislative success or failure, but more often that is the impetus to the next stage of our effort.
By bringing people together around accessible data and long-term planning, we are working to make Texas the best place to live, work, and raise a family not only today, but for generations to come.
At Texas 2036, we see community colleges as key to making this vision a reality.
That’s because we see not only the important impact that community colleges are having today, but the extraordinary potential they have to improve the lives and livelihoods of so many more Texans.
Just look at the numbers: Texas is home to 85 community colleges attended by 695,000 students last fall — 20% more than enrolled in four-year public institutions. About 130,000 degrees were conferred by Texas community colleges in 2023. And all at a cost to the student that is about a quarter of what it costs to attend a public four-year college. And thanks to House Bill 8 (more on that in a moment), that cost is coming down for many students, and more is being invested in their education.
Community colleges are an exemplar of the core American belief, that everyone, regardless of their background, should have the opportunity to learn, to succeed, and to excel. They are equally a foundation of our commitment to vibrant and innovative businesses that need an unceasing line of educated talent to fuel their enterprises.
Community colleges are not only vital to our workforce, but to health care, our law enforcement, infrastructure — everything that we at Texas 2036 have identified as integral to the success of our state.
And yet, the resources directed toward community colleges are rarely given the level of consideration they need or deserve.
At Texas 2036, we’re working to change that.
Leading into the 2021 legislative session, we co-founded Aim Hire Texas, a statewide coalition focused on workforce development policy that includes TACC and dozens of other statewide stakeholders. We developed a regional workforce data dashboard that identified changing labor market needs, and informed House Bill 3767, revolutionizing the way Texas approaches workforce development by improving collaboration among the state’s three primary education and workforce agencies to better align programs with workforce demands.
During 2022, we built on this effort by working with the Texas Commission on Community College Finance throughout its yearlong deliberations, providing expert testimony and data-informed policy guidance. We cultivated civic demand through the Aim Hire Texas coalition, which grew to include more than 70 business and educational entities.
During the 2023 legislative session, we provided testimony in legislative committee hearings about the importance of community colleges, met with legislators, state leadership and their staff, and amplified and coordinated support for community colleges.
Using the Community College Finance Simulator developed by our team, commission members and legislators were able to test different policy options and receive a cost estimate for each, providing them crucial insights into possible outcomes and allowing them to fine-tune policy changes to best achieve their desired impact.
Along with this data platform, we published the report, “Leveraging the Potential of Community Colleges in Data-Driven Workforce Development,” which we used to inform legislative staffers about the complexities of community college finance and identified opportunities to develop comprehensive community college finance reform that would improve students’ workforce outcomes.
House Bill 8: A historic investment in our community colleges
Ultimately, this work informed House Bill 8, which includes a historic $683 million investment in community colleges and, just as importantly, significantly enhances affordability, making community college more accessible to more Texas students. In fact, HB 8 is in many ways the type of policy central to our mission at Texas 2036 — it’s backed by data, generated broad bipartisan support, and will have a lasting impact that reaches every corner of the state. Of course, none of that would have happened without the commitment and participation of all of you.
At Texas 2036, we believe that community colleges have the potential to transform the lives of Texas families — not by pushing students into four-year programs, but by meeting them where they are and equipping them with tools they need to compete for and secure good paying jobs that will support themselves and their families.
As our state leaders begin to recognize the value of community colleges, we have a critical window of opportunity to raise awareness at the Capitol about the unique benefits community colleges provide and their power to better the lives of Texas students, families, and communities. Just as community colleges were transformed by the GI Bill after World War II, House Bill 8 provides us the opportunity to make Texas the example for our nation of what community colleges can achieve.
So how do we work together to do that?
Looking ahead: opportunities to build on the legacy of HB 8
First and foremost, we need to hear from you about what you believe is critical to the success of your institutions and your students. You are not only on the front lines of education and workforce, you have unmatched insights into the diverse needs of people and communities in every corner of the state — from the big urban centers like Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio to the smaller, rural areas like Borger and Carthage where community colleges provide programs and services far beyond what many would believe their resources would bear.
This is why one of the things we’re looking forward to in this coming legislative session is ensuring the reforms in House Bill 8 are fully funded and keeping up with student demand and outcomes. And ensuring that the definition of “credential of value,” on which so much of House Bill 8 is centered, is truly meaningful. We believe students should graduate able to secure jobs that pay family-sustaining wages.
We’re also interested in how community colleges can help modernize our secondary schools. And so we’re deepening our commitment to dual credit coursework to help students earn career-aligned credentials of value in a high school setting, and we’re looking at ways to take advantage of the overlap between 2019’s public school finance legislation and 2023’s community college finance legislation to make this possible.
But, just as we will be sharing our research and data with lawmakers to help inform their work, we need you to share your insights with us to inform our work.
A call to action
As a lifelong educator, I can’t wrap up a talk without giving out an assignment — or in this context, actually, a request. So this is what I want you to do: As you process all the great information being shared at this conference, I want you to keep a list on a piece of paper or on your phone a list of anything that you can think of that could challenge your success or greatly enhance it over the next five or 10 years.
I believe we are entering a long overdue time of recognition for the role community colleges play in our state. It is a moment for all of you and the institutions you courageously lead, but it is equally a moment for our state that we must not pass by. We must seize this moment by working together to assure that our community colleges get the support they need as they successfully enhance, extend and carry out their vital mission.