Messenger-Inquirer

The Owensboro region has a history of reaching deep into its pockets for worthy causes -- and for stepping up when its goals receive less assistance than we'd like from outside sources such as state government.

And increasingly, this is a community that values education and wants to be seen as placing that high value on it.

We face another challenge in reaffirming those commitments with the campaign publicly launched this week by Owensboro Community & Technical College.

OCTC is one of the gems of this community -- and a tribute to the tireless efforts of many citizens to persuade the state nearly two decades ago to open the community college campus here. Since its inception, it has contributed to the development of a more highly skilled work force, assisted business and industry in preparing and adapting employees to changing needs and boosted the region's once greatly disappointing rate of sending kids on to college after high school.

In short, it has done much for the community.

Now it is asking the community to help continue and enhance those efforts.

The college is seeking to raise $3 million in a major gifts campaign. College officials and campaign leaders and benefactors Monday celebrated their success so far -- and opened the phase of the campaign where they call on the community at large to help.

Already, the campaign has raised $1.8 million in funding and pledges -- $850,000 of it from an internal campaign soliciting employees and members of the board of directors and the OCTC Foundation, the rest from corporate benefactors.

The need is heightened by the failure of state funding to keep up with the growth and expansion it has asked of its higher education institutions. Despite the fact OCTC is a public college aimed at providing entry into college education for the broadest possible spectrum of students, it is only partially publicly funded. Indeed, as OCTC President Jackie Addington pointed out at Monday's ceremony, "with continued budget cuts over the past few years, state appropriations are at a record low."

The state provides just 39 percent of the college's annual budget this fiscal year. By comparison, in 1998-99, the first year for a consolidated community and technical college system, state appropriations constituted 63 percent of the budget.

OCTC officials said their goal in this campaign is to establish endowments for student scholarships, college advancement through technology upgrades and a student retention/success initiative.

The latter is especially important as colleges here as elsewhere struggle to make sure most of their incoming freshmen are motivated and helped to make it all the way to graduation.

In a region that is trying to increase the educational opportunities for its citizens and its attractiveness to new businesses, ramping up the contributions of the community college is critical -- and that takes money.

We urge folks to support the college's campaign.