RALEIGH -- Governor McCrory says he wants to let North Carolina's community colleges keep money they've saved through efficiencies to beef up programs in high-demand fields so that more students can land jobs after school.

McCrory announced Thursday he'll ask the General Assembly later this spring to let the community colleges reinvest $17 million to train workers.

"Instead of using a savings and transferring it to another department in state government, I'm going to reward them with that 18 millions dollars of savings, almost 18 million dollars, and apply it to science and to math and to engineering and to manufacturing and to health sciences."

The money distributed to all 58 campuses would come from savings created by the system when it streamlined and targeted remedial programs for students.