State board adopts new funding model

COEUR d’ALENE — On Thursday the Idaho State Board of Education approved a plan to fund Idaho’s public colleges and universities based on the number of graduates they produce.

For the past 30 years, the state board has awarded funding according to the number of credits students took at Idaho’s respective public colleges and universities, explained board spokesman Mike Keckler.

Keckler said the board will seek funding for its new plan at the next legislative session. The plan will be phased in over three years, he said, with $16 million in new state funding slated for fiscal year 2020.

“We as a board see outcomes-based funding as a practical step we can take to help our colleges and universities contribute even more to our entire higher education system success, and more importantly, to the success of our students,” board member Emma Atchley said.

More than 30 states across the nation use outcome-based models to fund their public institutions of higher education, including Washington, Montana, Oregon, California, and Utah.

Laura Rumpler, North Idaho College’s chief communications officer, said the funding model change would result in greater recognition of what the local community college has been doing for its students.

“What we’ve appreciated at NIC is that this model recognizes the work that NIC’s been deeply engaged in with increasing retention and completion rates of our students,” Rumpler said.

The new funding model will also be better for students who have financial needs and students who go into high-demand STEM fields, she said, and NIC is well-suited to serve those students.

There is a caveat though, Rumpler said. The state board still needs to work out how to recognize colleges that lose students to good-paying jobs before reaching a completion threshold. Leaving for such a job is a benefit to the local community and thus “still a success” for NIC, she said.

Lewis-Clark State College President Cynthia Pemberton said LCSC supports the state board’s outcomes-based funding initiative and its focus on high impact degrees, at-risk students and on-time degree completion.

She noted that the funding model will get the state closer to the state board’s goal to have 60 percent of Idaho citizens with a degree or certificate by 2025, and added that LCSC has increased steadily to a high of 962 graduates this year.

“As the model is rolled out, we look forward to contributing in ever more positive ways to the education goals of our students, and the needs of our state, region and communities,” Pemberton said.