The Montana Board of Regents will vote Thursday on a recommendation to deny the proposed community college in Ravalli County, a project approved by voters there 19 months ago.
However, the recommendation, posted on the Commissioner of Higher Education Office's Web site late Tuesday morning, urged regents to look for other ways to bring two-year higher education to Bitterroot Valley residents.
The Montana Board of Regents doesn't want a new community college with local control, said Victoria Clark, spokeswoman for the group. The people who run higher education in the state want to maintain the status quo, and that means keeping all two- and four-year institutions under its umbrella, she said.
But that approach is “bureaucratic” and proved “unresponsive” to the needs of Bitterroot residents, Clark said.
“Their vision has been on a different track than our vision,” she said. “They're interested in local input, but not local control.”
The two-page memo cites the number of pre-existing two-year colleges in the state and the close proximity of Ravalli County to higher education opportunities in Missoula as reasons to deny the proposed Bitterroot Valley Community College. There are 15 two-year colleges in the state, one of which is located “only 50 miles away” from the proposed Hamilton site.
The report also calls the community college proposal outdated. Technology and collaboration with K-12 education are changing the model of higher education in the 21st century. The report says it is “unnecessary and unwise” to support opening a new community college that replicates an “infrastructure-intensive 20th-century model.”
Also, the report indicates problems with the proposal's business and academic plans.
However, there are reasons for offering advanced education in the area.
First, the Bitterroot Valley has a significant and growing population. And the area is threatened by the economic crisis, a “context well-suited to two-year college programming,” according to the report.
Ravalli County also has a “community-minded” and “forward-thinking” support base that understands a local investment is necessary for any model of higher education to succeed.
That considered, the regents are not dropping the idea altogether.
The recommendation urges regents to ask state lawmakers to work with the Commissioner of Higher Education Office to offer courses in Bitterroot Valley, using support and guidance from pre-existing colleges and universities in the state and local community.
What that says to Clark is the regents “are not sure what to do.” The state realizes the area is deprived of sincere higher-education opportunities, despite residents' continued pleas over the years, she said.
“We have a good option before us,” she said. “I haven't noticed that the community college model has one foot in the grave.”
It's impossible to know how the Board of Regents will vote Thursday during a conference call, which is open to the public. The regents have “held their cards close,” Clark said.
The BVCC is a project that's already made it far - gathering 5,000 signatures to reach the May 2007 ballot, and then earning approval from a majority of the electorate.
Even if regents withhold their blessing Thursday, the proposal still goes to the 2009 Montana Legislature, which has the ultimate say over whether the idea survives. The Legislature is not bound by the recommendation of the regents. However, it's likely to carry some weight, as the regents would oversee the college's creation if approved.
Clark is interested to see whether the issue carries more weight with state lawmakers, because the electorate has already voted on the issue.
“Those folks are elected and understand what it means when a population votes for something,” she said.
Reporter Chelsi Moy can be reached at 523-5260 or at chelsi.moy@missoulian.com.
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