Legislation to rename the state’s technical college network will not make it out of a key Senate committee this year, the panel’s chairman said Thursday.
House Bill 315 would rename the Technical College System of Georgia as the Georgia Career College System. The legislation is a priority of Gov. Nathan Deal, who said the name change better represents the system and would better attract students.
Sen. Fran Millar, chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, said the panel is still studying the legislation and will not take action on it during this session. Millar, R-Dunwoody, told members earlier this week that a Tuesday committee meeting would be the last of this year’s legislative session.
Traditionally, bills are supposed to be passed by both chambers for final approval, but the language of the legislation could be attached and passed as part of another bill. For now, with the bill pending in committee, it can still be acted on during next year’s session.
The bill was opposed by the state association of retired technical college presidents and the president of the system's regional accrediting agency. Both wrote letters to Deal questioning the reasoning and the cost of the name change. The retired presidents group estimated the renaming would cost $14 million, which they said would be better used teaching students. Deal's office disputed that cost estimate.
Despite the pushback, the bill passed the House with a 122-40 vote.
In her letter to Deal sent earlier this month, Belle Wheelan, president of the regional accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, said the name change would cause confusion and change the perception of the quality of education the system offers.
“I said in my letter that in the hierarchy of higher education, career colleges tend to have a bad reputation,” Wheelen said Thursday. She said Deal sent her a letter in response saying he found the concerns in her correspondence absurd, and she sent him a letter this week affirming her position.
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