The North Carolina Senate Education Committee meets on Wednesday to discuss a bill that would change the way community colleges in the state are governed.
The state community college system is currently run by boards that are chosen by the governor and by state lawmakers. The bill introduced by senate Republicans would instead eliminate the governor's appointments and give them to state lawmakers.
The bill would also remove the student representatives from those boards.
The State Board of Community Colleges would still choose the system president, but the choice would be subject to confirmation by the General Assembly.
The system president would have increased budget authority under the bill, and while college boards of trustees would still select their local college president, the system president would make a formal recommendation to the State Board of Community Colleges.
The system president would also be able to terminate individual college presidents and to recommend removal of individual trustees at the local level.
