Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock is one step closer to becoming part of the University of Arkansas System.
Trustees for the state's second-largest community college unanimously voted Wednesday to merge with the UA System, the second board to do so in a month.
The board for Rich Mountain Community College in Mena -- the state's smallest two-year college -- voted April 27 to join the UA System.
The mergers now go before the UA System board, which is to meet May 25-26 in Nashville. If UA System trustees approve the mergers, the parties involved will form leadership teams to identify priorities and set timelines for carrying them out.
"The U of A is not going to come here and be our savior," Pulaski Tech board Chairman Ronald Dedman said Wednesday. "We're going to benefit a lot, no doubt about that. We're going to benefit a lot from joining the U of A System. However ... we still have a school to run."
Pulaski Tech President Margaret Ellibee and her staff will still be vital to the school's success, Dedman said.
"It's going to be incumbent upon the folks sitting up here -- Dr. Ellibee and her team -- to figure out how to get students here, where do we get the resources that we need ... and to make sure that we never lose sight of what our mission is, No. 1, and that's to focus on the students.
"So, change is here, y'all. Higher ed, as Dr. Ellibee has stated more than once, has changed. And we've got to evolve with it or we get left behind."
Pulaski Tech has seen declining enrollment over the past few years. Last fall, it had 7,648 students, down from its 2011 peak of 11,946 students. Consequently, the school has received fewer dollars from tuition and fees. Last month, the college's trustees approved the school's second consecutive double-digit tuition increase, which will start in July.
Initially, UA System President Donald Bobbitt informally approached Ellibee about the possibility of a merger when the two bumped into each other at an event. Bobbitt later got the green light from his board to explore forming partnerships with other higher-education institutions in the state.
There are six universities and five community colleges under the UA System's umbrella. Of the state's 22 public two-year colleges, 12 are independent.
In March, Bobbitt formally presented his proposal to Pulaski Tech trustees and faculty and staff members. At the time, many questioned if and how the college would exist if it were to join the system, which already has three campuses in Little Rock -- the four-year University of Arkansas at Little Rock; the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences teaching hospital; and the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, a graduate school.
That doesn't include the system's online-only university, eVersity.
At the time, Bobbitt said each of the system's institutions has its own focus, mission, name and traditions. He added that it's OK for schools in close proximity to have duplicate programs.
Bobbitt returned to the campus a couple of weeks later to talk to the college's faculty senate, where worries again surfaced about the viability of Pulaski Tech if it joined the larger system, Ellibee said. Bobbitt's response was the same, and he is right, Ellibee said.
"We have our mission at Pulaski Tech," she said. "We are a two-year institution, a technical college with university transfer. And UALR is a four-year institution that has a different mission, and I think both of those missions are critically important for central Arkansas. And it's how we work together and articulate our services that will be and is very beneficial to students and to business."
Pulaski Tech has several agreements with UALR to help students who want to transfer to the four-year university. During the past five years, a yearly average of 592 students transferred from Pulaski Tech to UALR. That is about a third of UALR's total average annual transfers, UALR has said.
A merger could expand the partnership between Pulaski Tech and UA System schools, Ellibee said. For example, Pulaski Tech faculty members could work with eVersity to provide more online courses to the college's students, she said. About 5,000 Pulaski Tech students are taking at least one online course, she said.
"I think that anything that could complement what we do is a benefit to students," she said.
Pulaski Tech's administrators also have said a merger would expand the number of add-ons available to students in Blackboard, a learning management system that provides software and online resources for students. Pulaski Tech currently pays about $180,000 every two years for Blackboard. For that amount, the school can receive three of the nine add-ons that are available, Ellibee said.
The UA System recently negotiated a contract with Blackboard for all of its institutions. The contract includes all nine of the add-ons and a free year of technical support from the company, system officials have said.
At Wednesday's meeting, questions revolved around retirement and health plans for Pulaski Tech's 881 employees.
Pulaski Tech pays about $500 per person per month in health insurance premiums, and if it is approved to join the UA System, it would pay about $100 less per person per month, said Sherry Young, associate vice president for human resources and employee relations. The school is among community colleges that banded together to save on health insurance premiums, but the group is looking at another rate increase soon, she said.
Lower employer contributions for health insurance could save the community college about $30,000 per month, she said. That doesn't include other benefits, such as the UA System's wellness program, which would knock off $1,400 in out-of-pocket expenses for registered employees.
For retirement benefits, the North Little Rock school pays about $2.5 million in employer matches in three different plans. The school has about 90 employees enrolled in the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System and another 122 in the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System.
All new employees are routed to a different retirement system -- TIAA-CREF (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund).
A new employee is required to contribute 6 percent of his salary to the retirement fund, while Pulaski Tech puts in 10 percent.
UA System employees currently do not have to contribute to their retirement funds. The system contributes 5 percent of the employee's salary. But come July, employees at each institution in the system must contribute incrementally to the retirement fund, until the amount reaches 5 percent by 2020. The system will contribute between 5 percent and 10 percent.
Catherine DeVito, a registrar at Pulaski Tech and the staff senate president, urged trustees and administrators to negotiate and try to keep the current Pulaski Tech contribution and matching rates for the school's employees after the merger. Ellibee said she hopes that Pulaski Tech's current employees can be grandfathered in, keeping their current retirement plans, contribution and matching rates, and that only people hired after the merger would use the UA System's plans and rates.
Pulaski Tech trustee James Herzfeld, who is the longest-serving member of the board, said Wednesday's decision was the hardest he's had to make as a trustee.
"I want this college to be Pulaski Technical College today and in the future, and I want it to always be a community college," he said. "I still want this school to have all the latitude it's had in the past. But I also want it to have some strength. And I realize the U of A System can give us some strength. I don't want any identification of Pulaski Tech to be taken away from us. I want it to stay here. And I certainly want to do the right thing with our students and our faculty."
Trustee Kent Walker, who made the motion to merge, listed the benefits of joining the UA System, including having access to research and collaborating to solve problems.
"Pulaski Tech is on its own island right now," he said. "How do we solve these problems? We won't face that anymore. Dr. Ellibee, you said we were looking to advance. I think being part of the UA System, we do advance. We become part of something bigger than ourselves."
The college will continue with its mission of providing technical education and university transfers to its students and the community no matter what happens, Ellibee said. Joining the UA System will add a "positive dimension" to the educational side, she said.
"And, I think, going forward, that provides this college with an opportunity to have that quality continue in new and dynamic ways," she said. "It provides us with savings and resources that we don't have currently today. As president of this college and all of you, we all see and we all know that revenues are not coming in. And that, it is what it is.
"But we have to be very mindful, very cognizant and very effective and efficient with those revenues we do get to make sure we're providing the best education possible to our students.
"So, in doing that, we have to be innovative because costs are increasing and revenues are staying the same. That's the world we're living in. I think this potential partnership gives to our college, gives to our students, gives to our faculty and staff some opportunities and some strength that we can capitalize on that allows this college to be continually great in the future."
Metro on 05/12/2016