RALEIGH – To lead North Carolina’s economic recovery, the state’s community colleges will need support from the General Assembly and Gov. Roy Cooper, the NC Community College System’s president says.

In the accompanying video, System President Thomas Stith III lays out what he calls a “moderate” agenda for this year’s legislative session.

First and foremost, he says, college faculty and staff must be properly compensated. Pay increases will be needed “to ensure that we have the proper talent in the classroom to educate students,” Stith says.

Budget stabilization funds will also be necessary to work through the pandemic and recovery, he says. And information technology across the system needs to be modernized for payroll, human resources and student records.

And if legislators decide to address construction needs with bonds or another approach, “The Community College System has identified over $2 billion worth of capital needs,” Stith says. “…A half-a-billion dollars in repair and renovation, and a little over a billion-and-a-half in new construction.”