Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, said her motion to add another $5.7 million to an otherwise deeply trimmed budget for state colleges and universities for next year "is a choice that we could make to assist the higher ed budget. Certainly it wouldn't make a huge difference, but it would help," she said.  Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, noted that the $25 million school facilities fund has been sitting untouched since 2006, though the Plummer-Worley School District now is applying for $11.3 million from the fund to replace an unsafe school next year. "It's really just been sitting there," Jaquet said. "My concern is the possibility of an increase in tuition at a time when we have people going back to school" because they're unemployed.

Ringo said the "elephant" in the room is universities' reserve funds, which she maintained have been appropriately used and aren't over-large. Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, said the "donkey in the room" on the issue is "whether we want to pull from public schools to fund higher education." Ringo's motion then failed on a 4-16 party-line vote, and the original motion, from Sen. Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls, passed 17-3, with all Democrats except Sen. Diane Bilyeu, D-Pocatello, objecting.