Budgets will be set this morning for higher education, including the state's four-year colleges and universities and its community colleges. First up, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has the budget for the Idaho State Historical Society. Sen. Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, proposed the governor's recommendation, leaving out all replacement items - including replacement of a 1996 van that now has an inoperable motor and is sitting unused. Reps. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, and George Eskridge, R-Dover, offered a substitute motion to replace the van along with a five-year-old server and 22 aging computers. The total capital replacement item funding in the Jaquet/Eskridge plan comes to $69,000; the agency had requested $277,700.

"They've got the money available in federal funds, all we're doing is just spending that down," Eskridge said. "This is pretty outdated equipment and needs to be changed." That motion passed 17-2, with just Heider and Sen. Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls, objecting. Overall, the Historical Society would see a 6.7 percent increase in general funds next year compared to this year's reduced level, 3.1 percent in total funds. "This agency has been pretty hard hit over the past few years," Eskridge said.

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