CHAMPAIGN — James L. Ayers, chair of the Parkland College Board of Trustees, is the new president of the Illinois Community College Trustees Association.

Elected vice president of the group a year ago, Ayers assumed the presidency on July 1.

The former mayor of Monticello, Ayers is CEO of family-owned Central Illinois Manufacturing Company in Bement and is an attorney in Monticello. He was elected to the Parkland Board of Trustees in 1989 and has been re-elected three times.

He has served as Parkland's board chair twice, from 1999 until 2001 and from 2007 to the present. Ayers is also the recipient of five Trustee Education Awards from the association.

Ayers said Thursday that he follows in the footsteps of two current Parkland trustees who have served as president, Tom Bennett and Linden Warfel.

"All of our trustees are pretty involved in different professional organizations," Ayers said.

"The statewide organization has been very helpful to all of the community colleges as far as securing funds and maintaining our share of the higher education budget."

He added, "right now we see a victory if we don't get a cut" in the state budget.

Ayers noted that, in Illinois, community colleges have 65 percent of the students in higher education, but only 13 percent of the higher education funding.

"This highlights the fact that we're doing a lot with fewer dollars," he said, adding the property taxes make up much of the difference in funding.

He said Parkland continues to grow and needs more funds for its master plan, with a new applied technology building, fitness center and other facilities increasing the size of the campus by 25 percent.