BATON ROUGE- For the past five years the Louisiana Community and Technical College System has been among the fastest growing in the nation with an enrollment of over 110,000 students in the last year.  During this unprecedented growth the system has witnessed reductions in state funding every year since 2009.  In order to navigate through these tough economic times programs have been eliminated and efficiencies increased.

Current legislative deliberations would reduce state funding by an additional 11% in total funds from current year (2011-2012). 

"At this late date, this type of reduction will require reorganization at a time when we are currently enrolling students for the upcoming semester, have extended faculty contracts, and renewed leases," said Dr. Joe D. May, LCTCS president.  "Clearly this creates a challenge for all 16 community and technical colleges throughout the state."

The LCTCS realizes that these are challenging times for the state's budget and respect the difficult decisions that policy makers are facing.   The system hopes however that legislators would reconsider and focus on the long term impact a reduction of this magnitude will have on students, employers, and communities throughout the state.  Therefore, the LCTCS encourages the state legislature to consider all possible options to mitigate this potential devastating impact on students and employers of the state.