ENDORSEMENT: Vote for Havercroft, Durbin, Knudtsen

NIC provides countless opportunities to Kootenai County residents and beyond. High school students can dual enroll to get a head start on their college credits. Online classes allow students to seek a degree while still maintaining a full-time job. Low-cost tuition, relative to four-year universities, provides opportunities to those who couldn’t otherwise afford college. Two-year degrees allow students to enter the workforce quickly. Career and technical degrees provide workforce training. Students can seek a GED at the Adult Education Center, opening the door to more employment opportunities. NIC provided me with the opportunity to retrain for a new career when I became disabled.

NIC provides a trained workforce for our community. There are countless industries in our community that rely on NIC to train their employees, including automotive, law enforcement, culinary arts, computer information technology, graphic and web design, hospitality, cyber security, paralegals/legal assistants, and countless areas in health care, just to name a few. 

If NIC loses accreditation, all of those opportunities will be lost. A college without accreditation can’t award financial aid. Without accreditation, students’ credits won’t transfer. Should NIC lose accreditation, all of the business sectors listed above lose their source of employees. It will be detrimental to our college and our community. 

NIC is at risk of losing accreditation due to improper governance by the board majority. That board majority was endorsed by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee. Don’t let the KCRCC ruin our college. They have proven to endorse unqualified and unequipped candidates year after year. To save our college and our community, VOTE RICK DURBIN, MARY HAVERCROFT, and EVE KNUDTSEN. Vote all three. 

LAURA TENNESON 

Coeur d’Alene