Legislative budget writers heard a pitch from a small but rapidly growing piece of the education system this morning, as STEM Action Center Executive Director Angela Hemingway presented her request for a $4.5 million budget next year – an 85 percent increase that’s backed by Gov. Butch Otter, Idaho EdNews reports.  

Hemingway is seeking $2 million for Idaho’s new computer science initiative, and she’s hoping it will become an ongoing line item, writes EdNews reporter Kevin Richert. Idaho launched its computer science initiative six months ago, with pilot programs that have reached 35,000 students across Idaho. In 2017-18 and beyond, the center hopes to identify pilots that could go statewide, Hemingway told JFAC. Created to promote the “STEM” disciplines of science, technology, engineering and math, the action center started in 2015-16 with a shoestring $547,000 budget.

The center doesn’t have enough grant money to meet demand, Hemingway said. Even with industry support, the center has been able to fund only half of its grant requests this year.

Richert reports that the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee also held its budget hearing this morning on the division of Career-Technical Education, or CTE. CTE administrator Dwight Johnson requested nearly $2.4 million to expand CTE postsecondary programs. Gov. Butch Otter scaled the proposal back to nearly $1 million, a budget designed to expand six high-priority programs around the state. “The full request was a little much for us to swallow,” said David Hahn, an analyst with Otter’s Division of Financial Management.

Richert reports that Johnson told JFAC that graduates from high-priority CTE programs have a 100 percent job placement rate and can land jobs paying up to $70,000 a year. He said Otter’s budget recommendation for a 3.4 percent increase in CTE next year includes nearly $1 million for high-priority programs, from medical lab technology at Coeur d’Alene’s North Idaho College to welding expansion at Idaho State University in Pocatello. All told, the $1 million should help the state cut into waiting lists statewide and serve an additional 75 to 80 students, Johnson said. You can read Richert’s full report here.