KCTCS president outlines accomplishments of first 70 days, Quarles commits to transparency and fixing audit findings

Kentucky Community and Technical College System President Ryan Quarles provided a comprehensive overview of his first 70 days to the KCTCS Board of Regents during last week’s meeting.

His “big four" accomplishments, he said, are working in Frankfort, building relationships among key partners, launching his Focus on the Future statewide tour, and being present at the system office.

“I feel like I’m a rudder on a big ship,” he said. “We have got to make sure that we are moving in the right direction, and it’s going to take a little bit of time.”

In addition to starting or accomplishing more than 20 key initiatives aligned to the three pillars of the 2022-2026 Strategic Plan -- learner success, employment success and organization success, Quarles talked about his guiding principles for the organization moving forward.

“After 70 plus days on the job, it’s time for us to be proactive and stop being reactive. Those are very different types of mentalities when leading an organization. If you spend all your time reacting to what needs to get done that day, reacting to the latest headline or the latest problem that injures the system, you lose your compass. You lose your true north,” he explained.

Quarles said that being proactive means that KCTCS must embrace the “statutorily defined sandbox” as outlined in Kentucky’s historic postsecondary education reform bill, HB1 in 1997.

“We should own the community college space, the vocational, technical and transfer component and have a special tool in the toolbox for workforce development. We must realize the situation we’re in as well,” he said. “We must embrace the situations, create an action plan, and be proactive about it.”

“Finally, we must plot our own course. If we don’t do it, somebody else will do it for us. I’m a big believer in preventive medicine--better off in taking care of yourself until you’re told what you have to do,” he added.

Quarles also mentioned staying focused on the core values of the system, which include affordability, accessibility and workforce development. He stressed that he is committed to transparency and fixing the state audit findings.

In action items, the board of regents approved an in-state tuition increase of $3 per credit hour for the 2024-25 academic year, bringing tuition for in-state students to $189 per credit hour. Out-of-state students will pay $260 per credit hour. The increase falls within the tuition ceilings set by the Council on Postsecondary Education last year.

In other action, the regents:

 -- Ratified 11,089 academic credential requests between Oct. 2, 2023 to Jan. 5, 2024. These credentials include: 7,591 candidates for certificates; 537 candidates for diplomas; and 2,951 candidates for associate degrees.

-- Accepted findings of the external audit for 2022-2023 conducted by Forvis. The audit resulted in a clean opinion of financial statements and no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting or compliance.

-- Approved a 3% budget reserve of state appropriation and tuition and fees, less systemwide contracts for fiscal year 2025.

-- Authorized a $4 million interim project for the Fire Commission to buy property in the industrial park in Mt. Sterling using restricted funds. The purchase would allow the commission to consolidate offices in the area and allow for future expansions to better support the fire service.

-- Approved a scope increase of $7 million for the Jefferson Community and Technical College parking garage using agency funds, bringing the total project cost to $27 million. While the number of parking spaces is already insufficient for current parking needs, the construction of the replacement science building on this parking lot creates an increased necessity for the construction of a parking garage. Officials said the project is critical to student recruitment and retention.

-- Ratified personnel actions as presented in the agenda materials.

-- Approved the procedure for clarifying policies for establishing a quorum and voting.

-- Set the board meeting calendar through December 2025.

The board also heard the following reports:

-- Progress on all 12 priorities included in the Huron study and an update on the compensation and classification program that goes into effect July 1.

-- Results of an internal marketing audit.

-- A financial report and a budget scenarios report.

-- Key performance indicators in the 2022- 2026 KCTCS Strategic Plan.

The next meeting of the board of regents is scheduled June 13-14 at Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College, Bowling Green.

Watch the meeting on KCTCS' YouTube channel.

Read Quarles’ Quarterly Report to the board of regents.