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Kansas community colleges press lawmakers to fully fund Excel/CTE, highlight wait lists and employer partnerships
Summary
Kansas community college leaders told the House Higher Education Budget Committee that enrollment has stabilized, noncredit workforce training is growing and Excel/CTE reimbursement shortfalls have created wait lists; they asked for a ~$1.01M supplemental to fully fund FY26 Excel/CTE and outlined FY27 adjustments to sustain programs while lowering general-fund need.
Heather Morgan, executive director of the Kansas Association of Community Colleges, told the House Higher Education Budget Committee that community colleges across Kansas have seen modest enrollment gains while continuing to expand employer-led, noncredit workforce training.
Morgan said the two-year sector educates many older, working students — “our average age of students is 24” — and that colleges serve about 35,000 noncredit learners who are not counted in Board of Regents headcount or FTE calculations. She highlighted program wait lists statewide — “over 1,000 students waiting to get into some of our technical programs” — and credited business-and-industry funds with helping reduce those lists by…
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