Technical colleges ask legislature to restore $10.5M operating grant, push apprenticeship funding

Dr. Gregory Nichols, appearing for Kansas’ seven technical colleges, told the House Higher Education Budget Committee that technical programs are costlier to deliver and that tiered funding exists to reflect higher equipment and instruction costs for shop- and lab-based courses.

Nichols described the technical-college operating grant as a stabilization tool and asked the committee to restore the grant to the FY25 level of $10.5 million, which the group said historically was distributed equally among the seven colleges. He said the equal distribution was intended as a phase 1 stabilization and that a phase 2 framework for more differentiated distribution has been discussed with legislators but was not before the committee.

Nichols emphasized the impact of apprenticeship and business-and-industry funding, calling the latter “game changing” for some colleges that are still building capacity. He cited Kansas job-placement data produced through the Kansas Training Information Program (KTIP) and departmental labor data, saying most technical-college graduates stay in state and that roughly 86.5% of graduates land jobs paying at least $15 an hour.

Committee members asked for student-count and enrollment-distribution data. Nichols offered to provide detailed numbers and explained why most technical colleges have not sought local taxing authority: boards are appointed rather than elected, many local tax bases would not raise sufficient revenue, and structural changes would be needed before taxing authority could be effective for the sector.

No formal committee action was taken during the hearing; presenters said they would follow up with requested enrollment and financial breakdowns.