Governor Patrick makes community colleges focus of his sixth State of the Commonwealth speech

By Noah Bierman and Frank Phillips, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick proposed sweeping changes to community colleges, including merging authority over the state’s 15 campuses into a centralized board, in his annual State of the Commonwealth address tonight.

Patrick, in making community colleges the centerpiece of his annual speech, is emphasizing the connection between the oft-overlooked schools and the need to reduce the unemployment rate. He said changes would help the state’s 240,000 unemployed get the skills they need to fill an estimated 120,000 current job openings, many of which require specific training.

“We have a skills gap,” Patrick said. “We can do something about that. We can help people get back to work. And our community colleges should be at the center of it.”

Unlike last year’s address, when excitement from Patrick’s reelection was still boiling over, the governor delivered this speech, his sixth-annual address, at a moment when he has been overshadowed politically.

His predecessor, Mitt Romney, is locked in a riveting Republican presidential primary contest. Patrick’s state party was focused on helping Democrat Elizabeth Warren in her challenge to Republican US Senator Scott Brown in what may be the nation’s most gripping senate race.

Even Patrick’s own lieutenant governor, Timothy P. Murray, has stolen the spotlight with growing interest in his mysterious high-speed rollover crash and in his ties with a former housing authority chairman Michael E. McLaughlin, who is under federal investigation.

Despite the challenges of the state’s economy in recent years, Patrick cited the state’s high credit rating, its vast improvement in job creation ranking, and his ability to curb public employee benefits without the turmoil that erupted in Wisconsin and other areas of the country.

The governor also touted the state’s success in lowering health insurance rate increases this year. Average premium increases fell from 16.3 percent two years ago compared with 2.3 percent this year, he said.

He also pushed again to dramatically change the medical payment system, renewing a unsuccessful plea he made last year to end the fee-for-service model with a so-called global payment system that rewards doctors for coordinating care.

And Patrick renewed his support for a modified version of the Legislature’s controversial “three-strikes” crime bill that would lengthen punishments for repeat violent offenders, but only require mandatory life sentence for those whose third felony is murder or a “similarly heinous act of violence.’’

Patrick, however, would couple the strict new punishments with his plan to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders.

He said that state spending on prisons has grown 30 percent over the last decade because of longer sentences for first-time non-violent drug offenders.

“We have moved, at massive public expense, from treatment for drug offenders to indiscriminate prison sentences and gained nothing in greater public safety,” he said. “Many come out more dangerous than when they come in.”

The community college system has been under debate since November, when a pair of reports described it as disjointed and inadequate in its preparation of students for technical careers.

Patrick reinforced that assessment in tonight’s speech, citing several individual colleges and their programs to train nurses, workers for manufacturing firms, and internship programs.

“We need that kind of sharper mission across the Commonwealth, so that community colleges become a fully integrated part of the state’s workforce development plan,” Patrick said. “We can’t do that if 15 different campuses have 15 different strategies.”

The governor’s proposal will let a central board dole out funding to individual colleges, taking into account enrollment and several performance measures. The new plan is also intended to make it easier for students to transfer credits among colleges, a frequent source of complaints.

Community colleges are often overlooked in a state dominated by elite universities including Harvard and M.I.T., but they tend to enroll vast numbers of students and play a crucial role in training students for mid-skill jobs. They also provide an economic ladder for thousands of financially-strapped students who cannot afford four-year colleges and universities.

To help with the transition, Patrick is proposing a $10 million bump in the community college system’s budget for the coming year.

The plan will likely meet internal resistance, as college presidents are being asked to cede much of their power to a central body. Patrick spoke with community college presidents earlier yesterday, catching many off-guard.

Bill Hart, executive director of the Massachusetts Community Colleges Executive Office, said the presidents were still awaiting specifics.

“We’re just trying to digest what we’ve heard. We’re hoping to learn more about the plans,” he said. “Obviously, the presidents want to do whatever they can to strengthen the role community colleges play in Massachusetts. If there’s any way they can do things better and more efficiently, they want to do that.”

Paul Grogan, CEO of the Boston Foundation, said the governor’s proposal mirrored the report his group released two months ago.

This is not the first time a Massachusetts governor has tried to centralize the community college system. The Romney administration put forth its own proposals, which foundered in the Legislature.

But Grogan said this time could be different. “There’s an accountability movement in education now, and also obviously there’s the tremendous problem created by the economy,” he said. “This is an opportunity for the schools to be something fundamentally more important than they have been.”

Staff writer Mary Carmichael contributed to this report. Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahbierman.