The Northeast Texas Community College Board of Trustees met for its regular May meeting on Tuesday, May 30th. The board voted to approve Russell East of Lone Star to fill the remainder of the term for Place Four. The position was vacated last month with the resignation of trustee Sid Greer.
“NTCC is a great asset for our community and I am honored to be appointed to serve on its board of trustees. I look forward to learning more about the college and helping to ensure that current and future students have access to quality affordable educational opportunities close to home,” East said.
East holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania and an MBA from New York University. He is also a Certified Compensation Professional through World at Work. East retired after 40 years from ExxonMobil in 2017, where he served in numerous roles in process engineering, finance and human resources/compensation. He currently volunteers for several organizations around the area and is a member of the Lions Club and South Union Baptist Church.
In other action items, the board approved the consent agenda and a $2 increase in tuition and fees for the 2023-2024 academic year beginning in August.
“The new tuition rate is in line with our historic practice of raising tuition incrementally over time to avoid drastic increases that could negatively impact students. The college has seen a sharp rise in operating costs due to inflation and this will help offset that,” Dr. Ron Clinton, NTCC President, said.
The board also approved hiring Dr. Chris McAllister as Professor of Biology and released a College Navigator from their contract.
In the president’s report, Clinton announced that the community college finance bill successfully passed both the Texas House and Senate during the regular session. He called upon Jeff Chambers, Vice President of Administrative Services, to provide details on the new outcomes-based funding formula. According to Chambers, the new formula will be broken into two broad categories. The first category is a “base tier” that will help ensure that smaller community college districts with lower tax bases and enrollments less than 5,000 students are funded at more sustainable levels going forward. The larger share of State funding will be based on a new “Performance Tier” that will be determined by NTCC’s student success rates and the number of certificate and degree completers it produces each year.
“Collectively, Texas community colleges are very excited about the new outcomes-based model. We anticipate that it will result, not only in increased student success, but additional funding for NTCC as well," Clinton said. “We are so very grateful for the work of Representative Gary VanDeaver, who authored the HB8, as well as Senator Hughes and Representative Cole Hefner for all their support to get this historic legislation passed."
