House rejects college study

BOISE – North Idaho GOP legislators led a move to kill a resolution Wednesday to study the concept of a statewide community college system over the next year, saying a new bill being introduced Friday is likely to address the issue more quickly.

“It’s too soon; we’ve got plenty of time. Reject this one,” said Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake.

“There has been plenty of talk about this since the beginning of this session,” said Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene. “I believe this is nothing more than a stall tactic.”

Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene, a co-sponsor of the resolution, strongly disagreed. “The resolution does not necessarily preclude moving ahead with a plan this year,” he told the House. But he said major issues regarding governance and funding need to be worked out for the long term.

“There is no strong consensus on how best to provide community college services and meet the needs of all the areas of the state,” Sayler said. Any changes, he noted, “will likely impact current community colleges.”

Already, the North Idaho College faculty assembly has unanimously passed a resolution opposing HB 740, a bill co-sponsored by Rep. Ann Rydalch, R-Idaho Falls, and Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, to set up a new statewide community college system. The bill allows those living in the districts of the state’s two current community colleges, NIC and the College of Southern Idaho, to vote on whether to join the new system or keep their current structure.

If they join the new system, local property taxes no longer would be charged for the colleges. But if they keep their current structure, they’d retain control through a locally elected board.

Details of the bill have raised other concerns, including the wording for the ballot measure, which simply asks voters if they want to keep paying property taxes or not.

Rydalch told the House that HB 740 isn’t moving forward anyway. Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s proposal to spend $5 million next year on providing community college services to unserved parts of the state also hasn’t moved. But Rydalch said she and Goedde are negotiating a compromise plan with Kempthorne.

“There is a consensus on a community college bill that will be coming forth,” she told the House.

The House Education Committee has scheduled a hearing for early Friday morning on what its agenda on Wednesday described simply as “Community college bill?”

The state Board of Education also has a conference call scheduled this afternoon “to review and discuss community college legislation.”

Sayler said the interim study committee approach worked well on the complicated property tax issue.

A joint committee of legislators held a dozen hearings around the state and proposed a package of property tax relief bills, which then passed the House and now are being considered in the Senate.

“I believe this process provides a model that can be applied to community colleges as well,” Sayler told the House.

However, his resolution, HCR 57, died on a 31-37 vote.