MONTGOMERY – Alabama’s community college system will likely ask for about $408 million in state funding in the 2013-14 budget year. That’s about a 29 percent increase over this year’s allocation of $316 million from the state Education Trust Fund.

“We need to make sure we adequately resource the students,” board member Charles Elliott of Decatur said today. “The community college system has been underfunded for years. I think it is time for the Legislature to actually support the programs that they say are important to the future of the state.”

About 100,000 people per year enroll in community college for-credit courses, according to the system’s website.

The state board of education meets Thursday in Montgomery and will vote on the request.

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