State board of education endorses higher education CEO proposal

A plan to create a higher education CEO position for Idaho received unanimous support Thursday from the Idaho State Board of Education.

Board members voted to endorse a proposal by Gov. Butch Otter to create a new administrative position to oversee consolidation of business office functions carried out on Idaho’s state college and university campuses.

The proposal stems from recommendations put forth by the Governor’s Higher Education Task Force on which state board members served.

The Task Force determined that a centralized system of functions such as human resources, information technology, purchasing and finance serving all eight colleges and universities could result in substantial savings and lower costs for students.

“There are very high expectations of the board with regard to back office work and ‘systemness’ that we have been talking about and how we identify places where we have been duplicating and reallocating those funds to support academic pursuits and to support our students,” Board President Dr. Linda Clark said. “That’s what this is all about and we dare not lose sight of that.”

If approved by lawmakers and signed into law, the new administrative position would serve in the Office of the State Board of Education.

Otter is recommending $254,500 be included in the State Board of Education budget to pay salary and benefits for the position.

“This will be a demanding, high profile position, and we are going to have to find somebody who has done this kind of significant integration and back office work,” Board Member Andrew Scoggin said. “I’ve had to go out and recruit this kind of person in other business settings, and they are in high demand.”