Higher education and economic development were touted heavily during a day-long conference of the Texas Border Infrastructure Coalition (TBIC) in Austin on Wednesday.
Blas Castaņeda, Chief Development Officer for Laredo Community College, was among individuals from the region attending the conference.
He added that Sen. Judith Zaffirini was a presenter on the TBIC Committee for healthcare, highlighting the nursing shortage in Texas.
Also present was Wanda Garza of South Texas College, who presented recommendations from the TBIC committee on workforce and education. Garza was joined by Diane Rath, chair and commissioner representing the public for the Texas Workforce Commission.
In the area of economic development, Castaņeda said that the committee emphasized the need to secure more funding for job training through initiatives, such as the Skills Development Fund.
The need to create a provision in state statute for community colleges to charge a differential tuition for high-cost instructional programs was also discussed, said Castaņeda, a member and past chair of the TBIC Workforce and Education Committee.
Also discussed was the need to allocate adequate funding to support growing community colleges and adult basic education programs.
The conference included presentations from Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. Gov. Perry indicated that he planned to increase appropriation for the Skills Development Fund.
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