League Reaffirmation - Johnson County Community College

History of JCCC
In the 1960s, residents of Johnson County began to seriously consider the creation of a local college. The area
had a rapidly growing population and a good school system from which a local college could draw students,
and it was hard to ignore the community college movement emerging in California, Florida, Illinois and Texas.
The idea was not unopposed, however; some residents felt the county didn’t need to assume the increased
expenses of maintaining a college.
Then, in June 1963, the nation’s leading experts in community college education gathered in Kansas City for
the Midwest Junior College Conference to discuss the potential of community colleges in the U.S. Residents in
Kansas City, Mo., were considering forming a large district that would probably include three community colleges.
The movement was hard to resist.
Across the state line, the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners formed a committee of 18 residents
to study the feasibility of a community college for Johnson County. The chairman of that committee was
Dr. Wilbur T. Billington, a prominent banker with the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank and a member of the
board of education of one of the local school districts. With the help of the League of Women Voters and the
American Association of University Women, the feasibility committee conducted a county­wide needs assessment
that demonstrated a greater need for a local college than had been suspected. The committee began to build
the case for a community college in Johnson County.
A citizens action committee was mobilized to implement the recommendation of the feasibility committee.
A petition signed by all school boards in the county requested the formation of a community junior college
district to be governed by six trustees elected at large. Johnson County Community College became the first
new college recommended for creation under the Kansas Community Junior College Act of 1965. A special
county­wide election was held in March 1967, and the proposed community college was approved by a 3­1
majority. The district was formally established in June 1967, and voters were asked to elect college trustees in
September. Thirty­six people filed for the election. Among the six elected to the new board was Dr. Wilbur Billington.
In 1968, the board obtained a “no­fund warrant” to provide for interim financing until the first tax levy could be
established. The board also selected the first president for the college, identified the site that would eventually
become the permanent campus and developed the first mission statement for the college.
In 1969, county residents voted approval of $12.9 million in general obligation bonds to purchase more than
200 acres in Overland Park, which would turn the idea for a college campus into a reality. In the meantime,
the first JCCC classes were conducted in leased facilities in Merriam that fall. Initial enrollment was 1,380 students.
12
History highlights
1973 | The Johnson County Community College Foundation is formed.
The college is fully accredited by the Kansas State Department of
Education.
1975 | JCCC is granted accreditation from the North Central Association of
Colleges and Schools.
1977 | The world’s only four­year college for the deaf, Gallaudet College, education.
establishes its first Regional Extension Center on campus to serve the
hearing impaired in a five­state region.
1978 | JCCC becomes a member of the League for Innovation in the
Community College.
1984 | The board authorizes the college to join area school districts in
applying for a cooperative Johnson County Area Vocational Technical
School.
1985 | The Small Business Administration funds JCCC’s Small Business
Development Center to provide training and counseling services to
area small businesses.
JCCC sponsors Project Finish, which conducts literacy programs for
adults living in Johnson County who have less than a high school
1986 | JCCC receives the maximum 10­year accreditation from the North
Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
1988 | JCCC enters into a unique agreement with Burlington Northern Santa
Fe Railway and builds the Industrial Training Center on campus to
1980 | The college’s accreditation is continued by the North Central house BNSF’s national training programs and provide significant
Association of Colleges and Schools.
additional office and classroom space for the college.
1983 | JCCC creates the Business and Industry Institute to provide professional 1995 | JCCC agrees to assume responsibility for postsecondary vocational
development and job training for area businesses. (The institute is
education in Johnson County. The local school districts enter into an
renamed the Center for Business and Technology in 2000.)
interlocal agreement to develop secondary programming as part of
the newly created JCTEC.