The first program audit of The North Carolina Center for Applied Textile Technology recommended Wednesday that the General Assembly consider specific guidelines for the school’s funding and that audits of the center be conducted annually.
The state Community College System, which oversees the center, conducted the audit. Unlike similar state institutions, the textile center underwent little scrutiny of its activities in the past.
The center has received more than $1.2 million annually since 1996 from the state. A directive from the legislative fiscal staff to the Community College System leadership spurred the audit, because of questions raised about the center’s efficiency and classes.
The center has no reporting requirements to the Community College System or to the legislature, but system President Martin Lancaster is on the center’s board of directors.
The audit’s findings
The Community College System’s former audit director, Dr. Bill Cole, conducted the audit. He reported that the center’s full-time staff of 27 employees remained stable over the last five years. The center’s budget, which includes receipts, totaled about $1.5 million annually. No report of staff salaries and responsibilities was included.
Cole also reported an average of about 3,700 total students, served by an average of 435 classes, at the venter in each of the last three years. He visited five of the center’s “continuing education” classes, three of which were conducted at the campus in Belmont. Two of those classes had six students; the other had two students. The two classes he visited off site were conducted at Pharr Yarns, a textile company that works closely with the center. One of those classes had nine students; the other had two students.
Based on a comparison made with the Hosiery Technology Center in Catawba County, Cole recommended that the textile center change its program focus to emphasize support services for the textile industry and reduce classroom training.
Cole advised the textile center to eliminate duplicate courses such as “general computer classes” that are also conducted at nearby Gaston College. He also recommended cooperation between the textile center and Gaston College “to meet Gaston County educational needs most effectively.”
Cole reported that “legislation dealing with the center is rather broad” and “to my knowledge, there is only one center reference in the Policy Manual for Community Colleges.” He suggested a review by the legislature to incorporate the textile center into the system’s accountability process.
The textile center, unlike the state’s 58 community colleges, does not receive state funding based on its number of full-time equivalent students. The legislature appropriates a flat sum annually to the school.
As a result, the center does not submit student, class, or other data to the Community College System, unlike all the other community colleges. Cole recommended more systematic reporting by the center, and that the school also find a way to “maximize both usage and efficiency” of its facility. The center recently completed the construction of a $3.2 million building.
Last year’s classes
A Carolina Journal review of the center’s classes from last year found that 56 percent of the 412 classes it reported had five students or fewer. Twelve percent had two students, and 18 percent had one student.
Only 25 percent of the school’s classes were textile- or manufacturing-related. But 54 percent offered basic computer instruction that most community colleges offer.
Chesser is an associate editor at Carolina Journal.