A collaboration, not a takeover.

Byline: Paul Reville

COLUMN: AS I SEE IT

Our community colleges in Massachusetts are essential to the workforce development efforts and economic prosperity of the commonwealth. These institutions also provide vital opportunities for the academic advancement of our students, providing, for many, the gateway to higher education and personal prosperity.

Recently, Louis Ricciardi, my colleague on the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, wrote a guest opinion which was highly critical of Gov. Deval Patrick's plan to locate community colleges at the center of the state's response to our current economic and jobs crisis.

While I am grateful for Mr. Ricciardi's service on the state board and his leadership at Bridgewater State University, I regret that he lacked a full understanding of the governor's proposal before launching a tirade against it.

I commend Mr. Ricciardi for recognizing the potential of the governor's proposal to bring together higher education with the statewide business and industry sectors to better analyze workforce data and plan strategies to close workforce development gaps. These gaps are best exemplified by the 240,000 job openings across the commonwealth - many in the mid-level skill range - and the 120,000 people currently looking for work.

Mr. Patrick's proposal will enable campuses to better match the talent of those job seekers with the skills required to fill available positions.

Mr. Patrick believes that community colleges represent the most promising sector to lead a renaissance in job growth while providing students with the tools to pursue and attain meaningful and fulfilling careers. They have a proven track record of doing this work and the governor's proposal will allow them to expand that good work.

This proposal is not a community college reform bill. Rather, it is an economic development policy - a jobs bill - that seeks to ensure community colleges are at the center of an integrated, comprehensive, and responsive workforce development system. The plan will allow community colleges to continue their good work locally, while creating the framework necessary for these schools to collaborate more readily on a statewide level to meet labor market demands.

Contrary to Mr. Riccardi's assertion, this plan is also not an attempt to centralize power over community colleges in Boston.

Let's look at the facts. The state has neither the bandwidth, nor an interest in running a community college system. The governor's...