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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Otter wants boost for Idaho schools, higher ed

Education dominated Idaho Gov. Butch Otter’s 10th State of the State message to lawmakers on Monday, as he laid out an aggressive plan to boost public schools and higher education in Idaho after years of lagging; here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com. Otter proposed a 7.9 percent increase next year in state funding for K-12 schools; 8.8 percent for four-year colleges and universities; 9.6 percent for community colleges and 10.4 percent for professional-technical education.

He also called for $10 million in new scholarships; a new program to “lock” tuition rates for four years if a college student performs well; and continuing investments in teacher pay, school technology, counseling and more, to continue carrying out a five-year plan for improving Idaho schools that Idaho embarked on last year.

Otter just touched on his other signature initiative for the coming year: A $30 million plan to provide some basic primary and preventive health care to the 78,000 Idahoans now stuck in a coverage gap – they make too much to qualify for Idaho’s very limited Medicaid program, but not enough to qualify for subsidized health insurance through the state insurance exchange. Idaho could expand Medicaid largely at federal expense to cover that population, but lawmakers have refused for the past three years to even consider it. After lawmakers greeted the mention with a hearty round of applause, House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, said, “I think that was a strong indication that they’re willing to sit down and listen. … I think people are going to give it a look.”

Bedke said he supports the governor’s push to improve schools, and believes most lawmakers do as well. But he noted that between K-12 schools and higher education, education overall takes up 63 percent of the state budget. “Those types of increases in that part of the budget makes it difficult to manage the other 37 percent of the budget,” he said. “It’s a simple algebraic problem. I don’t know what our response will be. I do suspect we’ll do everything we can for the K-12 system.”

Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, had a less positive response to Otter’s message. “I thought it was going in the wrong direction. The general tenor is spending more money,” he said. “I’d like to have seen a little more conservative increases if we’re going to see them, and if we’re going to have increases at all.” Said Barbieri: “Every year it’s the same: Education needs more money, education needs more money.”



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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