Higher education budget cuts pass Senate
BOISE - State support for Idaho's public universities is down $7.6 million in a higher education budget lawmakers advanced Thursday.
The Senate voted 28-7 along party lines to approve the spending plan, but not without heated debate between majority Republicans charged with balancing the state budget and Democrats who pushed back against the cuts in state funding.
"This particular bill goes too far, we do have choices," said Senate Assistant Minority Leader Les Bock, D-Boise.
The $396.7 million spending plan for higher education is now headed to the House for debate. The budget is up $19 million in total funding but includes a 3.5 percent cut in state general funds, forcing the schools to rely more on dedicated funds that are primarily made up of student tuition and fees.
John Martin, North Idaho College's Vice President of Community Relations, told The Press that NIC anticipated another cut in state revenue.
"The combination of general fund and Professional Technical Education cuts for fiscal year 12 amount to $425,500 or 3.2 percent less than fiscal year 11. This year's reduction returns state support of NIC to the level of the year 2000," Martin said. "Given our dramatic enrollment increases of over 50 percent from spring 2007 to spring 2011, this is both a revenue reduction and a shift of the funding burden to our Kootenai County property taxpayers and our students."
The administration and NIC's Board of Trustees are just beginning the budget process for fiscal year 2012, Martin said.
"So it is too early to talk about specific impacts. What we do know is that demand for our programs has never been higher," Martin said. "Nonetheless, we will do what is necessary to continue to provide quality education and training to our students."
Idaho's public universities are already charging students between 8.75 percent to 9.5 percent more in tuition and fees compared to the previous year. While some fear the cost is placing higher education out of reach for some students, Republican Sen. Mitch Toryanski said Idaho's universities and colleges were experiencing record enrollment growths.
"Higher education is still a really good deal in this state," said Toryanski, of Boise.
Sen. Elliot Werk, of Boise, was among Democrats who debated against the budget that would bring state support for higher education to its lowest level in more than a decade. Idaho's universities have taken more cuts during the economic downturn than any other state agency, Werk argued.
"This is our economic development engine that we are starving for resources," he said.
Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, countered that minority Democrats could demand more money for higher education because they didn't have to make the hard calls necessary to balance Idaho's budget. Republican lawmakers argued it was the best they could do given the state's current budget crunch.
"The electorate in this state has placed us here as a guardian and a watchdog over their pocketbooks," Davis said.
University of Idaho President Duane Nellis also believes slashing higher education funding will affect Idaho's economic recovery.
"I'm a firm believer in the power of investment in higher education and what it returns to our state. Our work - that of faculty, researchers and students - and our impact - the nearly $1 billion per year that the University of Idaho alone pumps back into the state's economy - help move Idaho forward," Nellis told The Press. "Active disinvestment in higher education can hinder our state's recovery and forward momentum."
Supporters of the budget stressed that state general funds make up only a small portion of the total money available to Idaho's public universities, which can access federal grants. Sen. Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls, applauded efforts by the schools to find other funding streams to offset the decline in state funding.
"We need to applaud our colleges and university for doing that," Mortimer said. "They are making significant changes."
Staff writer Maureen Dolan contributed to this report.