JFAC set the budget for the Office of the State Board of Education this morning, and when it came to the proposal from Gov. Butch Otter for a $500,000 study of how universities could integrate their back-office systems to achieve savings and efficiency, the joint committee allocated $250,000.

Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, said budget analysts for the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee did extensive research, including contacting firms across the country that have done that type of study. “I feel like this is a solid number,” Horman said. “We need to thank our staff for the homework they have done on this line item. … We feel comfortable that $250,000 will secure us the information we need to make some decisions about our higher ed system moving forward.”

Senate Education Chairman Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls, said, “I know there was a lot of work done on that, and I hope that’s enough to make it a good study, that will actually tell us dollars and cents, as well as how to make the savings.”

On the proposal for a $200,000-a-year executive officer for Idaho’s higher education system, JFAC took no action. “That line item is contingent on a bill passing, so that is not included,” Horman said. Typically, when a bill passes that has fiscal impact, JFAC follows it with a trailer appropriation bill.

The joint committee also agreed with Otter’s recommendation to boost accreditation for psychology internships by $125,000 in the SBOE office budget; and lawmakers included $80,000 in additional funding next year for the Graduate Medical Education Council, for which Otter hadn’t recommended any increase. The board had requested $114,000 to launch a 10-year plan for increasing medical residencies in Idaho. “While we did not give them the full request or the FTP’s (full-time positions), we did give them what we hope is enough to get started with that Graduate Medical Education plan,” Horman said.

The budget also includes a transfer of the Career Information System from the Department of Labor to the state board office, as recommended by the governor; that’s a $413,800 transfer. As a result, the bottom line shows a 14.1 percent increase in the general fund budget for the SBOE office next year. Otter’s recommendation, which included the higher ed CEO and twice as much for the integration study, would have come to a 21.4 percent increase in general funds.

Horman made the motion; Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, seconded it, and it passed unanimously, 19-0. The budget was crafted by a working group including Horman, Ward-Engelking, Mortimer, and Rep. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise.

The budget still needs approval by the full House and Senate and the governor’s signature to become law, but budgets rarely change once they’re set by the 20-member, House-Senate joint committee.

Also this morning, JFAC set the budget for the Division of Career Technical Education, and boosted the appropriation for post-secondary capacity expansion to cover the top two priorities – rather than just the single top priority – from each institution. “We know that there’s a waiting list for these positions, and there’s also jobs waiting for them,” Mortimer said. “We feel like that’s a very good use of that additional money.” JFAC allocated $1.7 million in state general funds for that line item, compared to the governor’s recommendation of $978,000. Overall, the CTE budget shows just a 1.6 percent increase in state general funds next year; Otter’s budget called for a 0.5 percent increase.

---

---