After nearly 50 years of funding community colleges based on enrollment and outreach, the state of Texas is considering making the switch to outcome-based funding, rooted in metrics like retention, completion, and the successful transfer to four-year programs.
“The current model is one that’s based upon contact hours, heavily influenced by enrollment and type of courses offered,” says Ray Martinez III, president and CEO of the Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC).
Ray Martinez III
The Texas legislature will meet in January, and it will decide if and how the funding model will change by May 2023.
Texas’s 50 community colleges range from rural to urban and receive roughly 24% of their operational budget from state funding. Like the majority of community colleges in the U.S., the pandemic had severe consequences on enrollment across the state. Between fall 2019 and fall 2021, Texas community colleges lost 11% of their enrollment, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which oversees higher education in the state. Yet, the 2020 census revealed Texas to be one of the fastest growing states in the nation. An additional four million residents arrived between 2010 and 2020, mostly in communities of color.
“The population growth in Texas was in urban and suburban areas,” notes Martinez. “There are 254 counties in Texas. One-hundred and forty of our counties lost population. That doesn’t mean we ought to close up shop in those areas; it’s the opposite.”
Workforce needs are also changing in the state, as more jobs are predicted to require some credential or degree. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board set a strategic goal in 2015, to be met within 15 years. The plan, Talent Strong Texas, aims for 60% of Texas’s adult population to have or receive some kind of postsecondary credential or degree. The goal is seen as a way to boost the state’s larger and local economies. Just over 40% of Texas’s adult population holds a degree or credential.
