What's ahead for 30-year partnership of community college and Katy?

May 22, 2008

By RICK WEBER
Chronicle Correspondent

Rousing speeches were given, memories rekindled and a ribbon cut.

A celebration was held March 19 at Houston Community College's Westgate campus at 1550 Foxlake Drive, renaming it the Katy campus to commemorate the start of the 30th year of HCC's involvement in the Katy area.

With Katy Mayor Don Elder Jr. and other luminaries looking on, Katy Area Chamber of Commerce CEO/president Ann Hodge, HCC chancellor Mary Spangler and HCC Northwest College president Zachary Hodges spoke.

"I think that any community needs a good, solid community college as a partner to the community," Hodge said, "and HCC has certainly provided tremendous resources and services to the Katy community. We're delighted they have renamed it the Katy campus. They've been a great partner out here. Residents have gone through HCC programs and gone on to be gainfully employed, and have transferred on to universities with their two years of credits."

Yes, it was a mutual-admiration trip down memory lane. But even more critically, it was a chance to cast an eye to the future.

This fall, Hodges will roll out Relevance and Opportunity: A Strategic Plan Essential to Our Future, 2008-2011 — his vision for a community college for Katy that will be based on "the best 21st-century thinking about what higher education should be."

The challenge is for Katy to decide whether it wants to be a part of that vision.

Join the HCC district?

Katy is not in any community college's taxing district. If it were to join the HCC district, it would mean a minimum 9-cent increase in property taxes per $100 valuation.

In 2004, the Houston Community College System's board revisited a proposal to annex four suburban school districts —Katy, Alief, Spring Branch and North Forest — after overwhelming opposition from each of those communities.

Hodges said 5 percent of the eligible voters within the Katy Independent School District would need to sign a petition requesting to call an election. If that petition could be obtained, it would be presented to HCC's board of trustees, an election would be called and residents would vote.

"As you can imagine, there are a lot of different views on that out here," said Hodge, chamber chief executive officer.

Speaking for HCC, Hodges said, "It's not going to be Houston Community College that's going to say, 'This is what we're going to do to you,' " he said. "It's going to be up to the community to say, 'We want a full-service community college with all the various technical programs.'

"For every physician, there are seven technicians to back up the physician. With all the growing health careers out here and the medical facilities being built, it's critical for us to get health-careers training. Well, boy, that's expensive. So the community's going to have to participate in the tax base in order to do that."

He said it's not simply an issue of education. It's about economic development and the benefits it would afford the community.

"I can show you evidence where, for every dollar invested in tax money within the HCC system, there's a 300 percent return on the investment," he said.

"People go to a community college to better their lives and transfer to a university. But it's also not just about 18- and 19-year-olds. Their parents go to get better job skills, to improve their position at work, to get a different job, to retrain in new areas where they can make more money."

Hodges said energy companies such as British Petroleum and ExxonMobil need technicians and engineers.

"People are hungering for more training and more opportunities. I think you'd see business and industry asking the first question: 'Who's going to train my employees if I come to your area?' Well, that's the community college's role. Companies are going to bring their executives, but they're going to depend on the local work force to provide them with trained employees.

"Timing is everything. Our time has come. The whole idea of work force and economic development is so big and such a societal issue that people have to recognize the importance of the community college."

Dual-credit program

Hodges said if Katy were to join HCC's district, it would have a huge impact on HCC's already successful dual-credit program, in which high-school students have the opportunity to take classes for college credit toward a bachelor's degree or associate degree while simultaneously getting credit toward their high school graduation.

Northwest College — which is one of six major branches of the HCC district and includes the Katy and Town and Country campuses, the Katy Mills Career Center and space at the University of Houston's Cinco Ranch location — started HCC's dual-credit program in 1990.

Mary Alice Wills, coordinator for Northwest College's P-16 initiatives — including dual-credit classes — said 1,017 Katy ISD students were enrolled in dual-credit classes last fall. The classes are conducted on Katy ISD high school campuses.

"It is a significant portion of our enrollment," she said. Northwest College's enrollment is about 10,000 students between the Town and Country and the Katy campuses. The dual credit enrollment for Northwest College is a little over 1,800 students, said Willis.

Students are earning 12 to 18 college credit hours before graduating from high school that are transferable to any public institution in Texas from HCC, she said, adding, "That's kind of an exciting thing."

Hodges said the number of dual-credit students could double if Katy were part of the district.

"Now, students have to pay twice as much tuition to attend HCC because they don't pay taxes to HCC's district," he said. "Our students out here pay $162, so if Katy joins HCC's district, the dual credit would be free. More students could participate that way. There are still a lot of students who don't know the value of higher education or don't have $162."

In the beginning

Hodges was part of HCC at the very beginning in 1979, when its west Houston "campus" was located at Park 10 and the only high school in Katy ISD was Katy High. Then came classes at Katy Taylor High and Mayde Creek High.

The growth was so strong that the parking lot no longer was large enough. Students were forced to park on the street at Park 10, and subsequently were ticketed and towed.

Wills said that "sometimes something you thought was a problem turns out to be blessing"and that's exactly what happened. Because HCC was forced to look for another campus, it found the Westgate facility in 1994.

The campus's 23 acres are enough for now, but perhaps not if HCC experiences the kind of growth Hodges dreams of.

"We'd ask the community, 'What kind of campus do you want? And where would it be?' " he said. "We own the land around the Katy campus. Or, maybe it could be in another part of Katy. It may be that Katy wants to keep this campus, but on other hand, if you want a 21st-century campus, Katy builds first-class facilities.

"I'm excited about the future. We have a lot of possibilities with Katy creating a college-bound culture."