Potentially, students, faculty and alumni of the 16 schools that make up the Kentucky Community and Technical College System hold tremendous clout with the elected leaders of this state. After all, more than half the students — 53 percent — currently enrolled in higher education in Kentucky are attending a community and technical college.

That’s why KCTC President Michael McCall is touring the state’s community and technical colleges in an effort to inspire students, faculty and alumni and the leaders of the communities where the schools are located to become advocates for the two-year schools. Those schools provide training for careers in nursing, the skilled trades and medical and information technology. They also continue to provide an affordable option for students to begin studies that ultimately will lead to a four-year bachelor’s degree.

McCall spent one day in Ashland last week where he met with students and faculty at ACTC, with community leaders and with editors of this newspaper.

While the community and technical colleges enroll far more students than any single university in the state, McCall is right when he says students and alumni of the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville and the regional universities do a much better job of advocating for their schools than students and alumni at the community and technical college do.

The professional who earned his or her undergraduate and advanced degrees from a university is far more likely to contact the governor and their state senator and representative on behalf of their alma mater than the skilled auto mechanic or respiratory therapist who received his or her training at a community and technical college or the person who began his or her college career at a community and technical college.

The timing of McCall’s tour of the community and technical colleges is no accident. The first order of business for the 2010 Kentucky General Assembly when it convenes in January will be to trim at least $160 million from the current budget, bringing the total cuts in the budget legislators approved in 2008 to almost $1 billion.

After approving those cuts, legislators must adopt a biennium budget for the two fiscal years beginning July 1, 2010, and with the chances of legislators increasing revenue by hiking taxes being nil, that budget is certain to be a lean one.

McCall and the KCTC trustees are fully aware of the state’s gloomy financial picture. That’s why they are not seeking an increase in funding for the 2010-12 biennium. They are just hoping to avoid new cuts in funding. That’s why McCall and others are seeking the help of students, faculty and community leaders in presenting their case before the governor and legislators.

As this newspaper has said numerous times, one of Kentucky’s greatest obstacles to economic development is a woefully undereducated adult population, and this region lags behind the rest of the state in this key area. In order for this region to compete for the jobs of tomorrow, we must increase the number of college-educated residents who possesses the skills required by employers. No company that offers the jobs this region so desperately needs is going to consider locating in a county where as many as 50 percent of the adults do not even have a high school degree, much less a college education.

Community and technical colleges play a critical role in increasing the education of this state’s adults. Quite frankly, many community and technical college students are older adults who have been not been in an academic setting for many years or young high school graduates poorly prepared for college.

That’s why 78 percent of KCTC students must take at least one, non-credit remedial class that teaches what they should have learned in high school. While some have criticized colleges for offering so many remedial classes, without them Kentucky will never be able to improve the education level of its adults. That’s why we also support KCTC’s request for the state to fully fund remedial classes.

Ashland Community and Technical College plays a critical role in this region’s economic future. More funding cuts for the community and technical college likely will mean more steep hikes in tuition, making it more difficult for those from poor and middle class families of modest means to afford the college training that is so needed in this region and across that state.

There are thousands of residents of this community who have benefited from the training that received at Ashland Community and Technical College, or before that from Ashland Community College and Ashland Area Vocational-Technical School. It is time that they spoke up in support of ACTC.