Batt Feels Boise State Must Run Engineering School Board Of Education Will Discuss The Issue Next Week

Gov. Phil Batt wrapped up a series of meetings with various interests on the southwestern Idaho engineering education issue on Friday still convinced that Boise State University will ultimately have to control the program in this region.

But after meeting for about 30 minutes with Micron Technology Inc. Chairman Steve Appleton and dozens of Boise State boosters, Batt said he still remains most impressed by concerns voiced by students that shifting control of the current program from the University of Idaho to Boise State could undermine accreditation and quality.

“I think the caveats that have been raised by the other people have to be addressed, and that is accreditation and quality of education during any transition period,” the governor said. “I think that will be addressed by the board.”

Batt, however, said Appleton, whose company has been pressing for an independent engineering school at Boise State, did undermine the claim that Idaho cannot afford to have two independent engineering schools - one in Moscow and one in Boise - by pointing out that surrounding states, and most notably Montana with a smaller population, already have multiple schools in engineering.

“So that argument that we can’t afford it isn’t supported by what’s going on in the other states,” he said.

Batt and state Board of Education member Tom Dillon of Caldwell met with students in the current Idaho-managed engineering program in Boise as well as officials from both universities and from businesses that need employees with engineering training to gather facts on the simmering dispute.

The state board, whose makeup has changed since it reaffirmed support for the Idaho-run engineering program in Boise last January, is expected to discuss the issue again next week at its meeting in Twin Falls. Dillon is pushing a proposal for the independent school in Boise.

Critics of that move fear it will set the stage for duplicating other programs in what would soon become a system the state could no longer afford to maintain at a high quality.

And Batt has previously endorsed a Boise State-run electrical engineering program while refusing to go that far for chemical and mechanical engineering education.

“It’s a board action. I’m going to support what they do,” the governor said.