Senators and representatives convening the Joint Committee on Ways and Means heard multiple community college leaders and trustees ask that the legislature preserve funding for community colleges and expand supports for student basic needs.

"Our ask to you is that community colleges be funded at current service levels, which is the governor's proposed budget plus $60,000,000," Andrew Spear, vice president of the Mount Hood Community College Board of Education, told the committee. Spear traced rising tuition over decades and said the state's funding shortfall has shifted costs to students.

The request focused both on operating support and on programs that address students' basic needs. Tim Cook, president of Clackamas Community College, cited a campus survey showing 19% of students had been houseless at one point in the last year and more than 46% had experienced food insecurity. "Maslow's hierarchy of basic needs — it's pretty difficult to learn when you're hungry or when you don't have a place to live," Cook said, and urged continued funding for benefit navigator programs and the student basic needs and workforce stabilization bills now in Ways and Means.

Speakers from other campuses and advocates reinforced those requests. Former state representative Jeff Reardon urged support for the community college support fund, as part of broader higher-education investments, and Megan Vidal, a Wilsonville school board director, told the committee that a gap in special-education funding already translates into lost staff and program cuts at her district and said increasing the special-education cap would fund additional teachers locally.

Why it matters: Community colleges enroll a large, diverse population of students, many older or working while studying; witnesses argued that keeping them affordable and restoring state support is central to workforce development and economic stability. Witnesses also warned that measurable student hardship — food and housing insecurity — reduces retention and completion rates.

Details and asks: Spear described a long-term shift in costs from state funding to tuition; Cook asked the committee to maintain funding for basic-needs navigators and workforce stabilization legislation (House Bills referenced by Cook: HB 382 and HB 3183). Reardon and other witnesses urged that the biennial budget include the community college support fund funding request noted by multiple speakers. Several witnesses asked for one-time and ongoing investments to avoid cuts that would be difficult to restore.

Ending: Committee co-chairs said the March framework does not include preemptive cuts and that written testimony could be submitted up to 48 hours after the hearing, and that they will consider the many requests as budget work continues.