NIC letter elicits action

Manufacturing leaders’ ongoing frustration with North Idaho College and how well it serves their needs reached a boiling point last week with a bluntly worded letter to the college’s Board of Trustees.

The business representatives said they had no confidence in NIC President Michael Burke and his ability to work with the business community to meet their employment needs.

NIC trustees blasted back, calling the letter off-base and downright inaccurate.

Now, more than a week later, all parties say the letter served as a call to action and a plea for better communication.

“They’ve gotta quit accusing us and we’ve gotta quit being defensive,” NIC spokesman Kent Propst said.

The letter criticizing Burke may have been the first step in doing just that.

“We think (the trustees) have heard us and have made a commitment to address the issues that we have, and together in a partnership we will fix the problem,” said Ron Nilson, president of North Idaho Manufacturing Consortium, who helped draft the letter. “We don’t need any more of this gang-up on Michael Burke at this point.”

Burke said he knows North Idaho businesses are in need of trained employees. NIC would love to train more students, he said. It’s just a matter of finding them in a state where unemployment is at an all-time low, he said.

The Legislature has allocated money for professional-technical education, and Burke said that the money is well-spent developing new programs and funding existing ones. It hasn’t solved the work force shortage facing area manufacturing businesses and trade companies, he said, but at least there has been progress.

So why did 100 people from the region’s business community sign the letter?

Eve Knudtsen, owner of Knudtsen Chevrolet, said it was a result of extreme frustration over having their concerns consistently ignored.

“We feel that we get a lot of lip service,” she said. “There were promises made that just didn’t happen.”

Burke believes it stems from poor communication on behalf of business people and NIC officials, as well as a misunderstanding about what the community college offers and how it operates – particularly how it doles out money, he said.

“I’m sympathetic with their concerns,” Burke said. “They want a skilled work force. We want to train them. But we’re discovering that many of the folks who would be our students are opting to enter the work force.”

The key, he said, is for NIC to improve its conversation with the business community so everyone understands how the college works, what programs are offered and how best to make changes.

The letter, sent to the board July 28 while Burke was at a conference in Washington, D.C., gave a stinging assessment of Burke’s relationship with the business community and of the state of professional-technical education at NIC in general.

Knudtsen said a flip through the “help wanted” section of any newspaper in the region showcases the problems businesses are facing.

“Framers … heating and air conditioning … there’s another roofer,” she said, thumbing through the classified ads in her Post Falls office. “These are the jobs that are there, and they’re good paying jobs.”

“You know what would be really sad? To see these jobs move out of the area,” she added.

But a short drive around Appleway Avenue shows the problem isn’t restricted to the private trade sector, Burke said. When places like Del Taco fast food restaurant advertise wages up to $12.75 an hour, it’s a sign that competition for employees is fierce, he said.

That hasn’t stopped the college from working to expand its professional-technical education, he said. While budget problems have plagued the college recently, state funding for professional-technical education has increased almost 10 percent since 2002.

Funding dropped in 2003 following the state budget crisis, but the 2006 Legislature’s allocation boosts funding to $4.2 million, more than $400,000 above last year’s level.

Enrollment increased more than 80 percent from 1994 to 2004, second in the state only to Eastern Idaho Technical College.

“I think it’s unfair to say that the folks in professional-technical education have not been trying to address this,” Burke said. “We wouldn’t have four new and revised programs last year (and) two new programs coming on this year if we weren’t trying hard to find the resources.”

The welding program was restarted at the request of businesses, and the three new programs – outdoor power/recreational vehicle repair, landscape technology and human resources assistant – were created using a standard 13-step process for creating programs, Burke said. Radiography and resort/recreation management begin in the fall.

But business leaders said the new programs don’t do a thing to solve the problems they see.

“I guess I never realized there was such a demand for landscape technology and assistant human resources,” Knudtsen said.

There are dozens of other professional-technical programs the college would like to start, Burke said, but funding is a big issue and the three programs that started this year don’t require a lot of money to get off the ground. There’s no expensive classroom equipment in the human resources assistant program; it’s just a teacher instructing students, Burke said.

Many don’t understand the differences between the college’s professional-technical programs and its work force training programs, he said. Some of the local business community’s immediate training needs can be met through the work force training center, Burke said, which offers noncredit training tailored specifically to what employers need.

Some also question why more money from general fund allocations, including local property tax revenue, can’t be used for professional-technical education. Burke said that ignores another very important facet of the college: its academic transfer programs. Funding for academic transfer, such as political science and math courses that can be transferred to a four-year university for credit, is tied directly to enrollment. If enrollment drops, so does funding. Not the case with professional-technical enrollment.

Taking money out of academic transfer for professional-technical education means cuts on the academic transfer side, Burke said, which could lead to a drop in enrollment and a decrease in state funding.

“We’d shoot ourselves in the foot if we did that,” Propst, the college spokesman, said.

Besides, Propst said, professional-technical students already make use of the general fund revenue when they use the college’s library or visit an academic counselor.

“They take advantage of the same services that all of our students have,” he said.

Knudtsen, the car dealership owner, said she and other business leaders are looking closely at how the College of Southern Idaho works with area business on its professional-technical programs. The programs there seem to bode well with the job opportunities in the area, she said.

“I gotta guess that it didn’t just start as a successful program,” Knudtsen said.

There is consensus between NIC and the business community on one thing: the need for teamwork.

“It’s heightened awareness that this business community needs our help at a level that is probably unprecedented,” Burke said.