Kempthorne urges ‘next step’ for community colleges

BOISE – With all the talk about creating a new statewide community college system in Idaho, the presidents of the two existing community colleges had a message for lawmakers Monday: “Your two existing community colleges are not broken – don’t try and fix us.”

Jerry Beck, president of the College of Southern Idaho, and Michael Burke, president of North Idaho College, said the two colleges respond well to the needs of their communities. Lawmakers were receptive and had high praise for both schools.

“What it’s done for Sandpoint is absolutely phenomenal,” Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, said of NIC.

Rep. Mary Lou Shepherd, D-Prichard, said the same is true in her district, where NIC has opened a center for students in Kellogg. “We have people now attending that would never have been able to go the distance to Coeur d’Alene, and they will be employable where they wouldn’t have been before,” she said. “It’s absolutely fantastic.”

NIC and CSI officials welcomed lawmakers Monday to their annual legislative pizza luncheon, complete with comments from student leaders and updates from the two college presidents.

Josh Gittel, NIC student body president, said he was born and raised in Coeur d’Alene, and when it came time for college, he turned to NIC. “Being in Coeur d’Alene, what’s always been there is NIC, so I went there,” he said. “It’s close to home, and I’ve always loved the campus.”

Idaho has one of the lowest rates in the nation for its high school graduates going on to any form of higher education – just 44.8 percent did so in 2000, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne has proposed $5 million in his budget for next year to expand community college services to unserved areas. The Boise-Nampa area is seen as a main target: It has no community college even though it’s the state’s largest population center. But Burke said that money also could benefit NIC and CSI.

“I think the intent is for us to be eligible for the funding,” he said. “We can take our services to Bonners Ferry and to other parts of our region. … Given the rural nature of North Idaho, access and affordability are the key issues.”

Kempthorne’s press secretary, Mike Journee, confirmed that. “Just like any other entity, they could apply to use those funds to create a satellite campus,” he said.

The $5 million is recommended in the budget for the state Board of Education.

Kempthorne long has talked about the need to address community college services statewide. In some parts of the state, including Boise, universities are supposed to provide community college services. But Boise State University lacks the affordability and open enrollment policies that characterize community colleges.

In eastern Idaho, voters twice rejected property taxes for a community college, but they got Eastern Idaho Technical College anyway – a fully state-funded, two-year college in Idaho Falls.

NIC and CSI differ from other state-funded colleges and universities in that they’re partly supported by local property taxes.

House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, R-Burley, asked the two college presidents, “Tell me how you would fund Nampa community college – do you think there would be a property tax component there like there is with your schools?”

Burke laughed, and said, “If we were king?”

“It’s a tough question,” he said. “I know property taxes are not anybody’s favorite subject. What property taxes provide you is local control – we make decisions locally.”

NIC, Burke noted, has a locally elected board that oversees the college – unlike Eastern Idaho Technical College or state universities. “In my case there are five people in our community who are elected … who look over our shoulders and make sure we’re doing right for the community,” he said.

Kempthorne, in his State of the State message, called his $5 million proposal “a plan that will make community college classes accessible and affordable to more Idahoans.”

Rather than as an investment in buildings, the money would go to course work, wherever it can be set up, he said. “Students might expect to attend classes at the local high school, a corporate conference room, or a room in city hall or a county courthouse,” the governor said.

He dubbed his plan the ” ‘Idaho College’ initiative.”

“Let’s take the next step to make college classrooms available in every part of the state,” Kempthorne said.

The governor didn’t address the question of property tax funding for new community colleges, though he called NIC and CSI “great models to follow.”