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27 August 2010
During the 2010 session, the Legislature set aside funding for renovations and repairs at Iowa’s 15 community colleges, including health, life and fire safety needs, and for compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
From this appropriation, Des Moines Area Community College will receive $300,593, which will go toward a $3.5 million remodeling project on the Ankeny campus.
In the Legislature, we also approved $5.5 million for Accelerated Career Education, which allows community colleges to partner with local businesses to provide vocational programs and accelerated training for employees.
Each community college received $366,666 for an approved ACE training program. DMACC’s award went toward an expansion of its Health Care Program. A new Perry Center will provide needed health training to residents of Dallas County and surrounding areas. The center will provide employment training to prepare students to enter the health profession. A computer lab will be set up to accommodate the needs of the health program and additional classrooms will also be available to teach required arts and science courses.
To be approved for ACE funding, a training program must meet several requirements, such as training more students and helping them develop the worker skills that lead to good-paying jobs.
To make job training and a college education a real opportunity for more Iowans, I’ve worked to ensure that higher education remains affordable. For example, this year the Legislature provided $24 million specifically to help prevent increases in tuition, student fees and charges at our state universities.
