CHEYENNE - Draft legislation would give the Wyoming Community College Commission considerably more oversight of construction and academic offerings at the state's community colleges.

The Joint Education Committee next Wednesday and Thursday plans to review a report by a task force that looked at how Wyoming can better coordinate its seven community colleges.

Currently, the Legislature approves state funding for construction at the colleges on a case-by-case basis. Academic programs fall largely under the purview of each college district.

A draft bill based on the task force recommendations would give more oversight of those matters to the Community College Commission. Along with reviewing the task force report, the Education Committee plans to discuss the draft bill when the lawmakers meet in Cheyenne.

The Legislature created the task force last winter and directed it to continue the work of a blue ribbon commission appointed by Gov. Dave Freudenthal to review the college system.

In calling for the review, Freudenthal and others said the state should have more say in how state funds are spent at community colleges. The amount of state funding for community colleges has increased considerably in the past 10 years.

"This task force has done a pretty good job of bringing together a lot of the different interests and issues into a comprehensive approach to address some of the things the state has an interest in," said Jim Rose, the commission's executive director.

State funding for the community colleges has nearly doubled to about $170 million per biennium since 1999, Rose said. State government now provides about 60 percent of the colleges' funding. About 20 percent comes from tuition and fees, and the other 20 percent comes from local property taxes.

The draft legislation includes the development of a strategic plan for the colleges, a process already under way.

Rose said the commission, which has hired a consultant to help draft the plan by next summer, plans to hear from the colleges and others with a stake in the outcome.

The draft bill would require a majority of the seven colleges to approve the strategic plan before it could go into effect. Rep. Del McOmie, a Lander Republican and co-chairman of the Education Committee, said he agreed with that provision and believes that the bill, overall, is fair to the colleges.

"Most of the colleges realize there is some give and take. Some colleges feel they're going to lose a little bit on the funding formula. Others think there will be some loss of local control," he said.

Freudenthal said Wednesday he has no interest in wresting control from the colleges, but feels the state needs to become more sophisticated about how the colleges can help the state meet its development goals.

"Control would remain with the local boards, local community college boards, and it should," he said. "But the state ought to have a logical plan for what is in the state's interest."

A member of both the committee and task force, Sen. Michael Von Flatern, R-Gillette, said the state ought to look at making the colleges more efficient by centralizing some services, such as student advising.

He said only academic programs that are state-funded should be subject to state review, and he wouldn't discourage colleges from offering other courses.

"If a college feels that strongly that a certain course will still be offered, fine, you've got all the right in the world to do it. Just don't use state funds."

Rose said increased demand for the state to fund construction at the colleges led to Freudenthal's commission, the task force and now the draft legislation.

The 2007 Legislature approved $18.4 million for a technical education center at Gillette College, $7.4 million for a health sciences building at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne and $3 million for a diesel mechanics facility at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs.