CdA ed corridor supporters furious

Supporters of a proposed education corridor in Coeur d’Alene said Wednesday they were surprised and angry to learn that the state Board of Education rejected a motion to support the project at a meeting earlier this week. They said they didn’t even know the board had planned to discuss the education corridor at its meeting Monday.

“I’m furious that the state board would do something this clandestine,” Mic Armon, a member of the NIC Board of Trustees, said at a board meeting Wednesday. “This is a great example of how inept the state Board of Education is.”

The education corridor has been a longtime dream for educators, local government officials and other community members. It’s envisioned to be an education hub for the region – a place where students can earn different levels of degrees and access resources from NIC, the University of Idaho and Lewis-Clark State College.

Developer Marshall Chesrown has agreed to sell the DeArmond Mill site, considered a key piece of land for the corridor, for $10 million.

The corridor was not on the state board’s original meeting agenda. A board member made a motion at the beginning of the meeting Monday to add it to the agenda, said board member Sue Thilo, a Coeur d’Alene resident.

Thilo moved to approve a statement of support for the corridor, but she said it was rejected on a 2-5 vote. Thilo said she thinks it wasn’t the corridor concept itself but the $10 million needed to buy the land as well as the timing of the proposal that drew opposition to the proposal.

“I think there’s concern that … it might be construed as a high priority item for (legislative) funding when we have other higher education funding requests,” Thilo said.

The NIC board directed NIC President Michael Burke to write a letter to the state board expressing its concerns.

“He was caught off guard like this just like everyone else was,” NIC spokesman Kent Propst said of Burke. “We had no idea this was coming down the pike.”

Monday’s state board meeting was held via teleconference. No access for the public or media was provided because board members worried there would be no way to determine if only board members were listening during the executive session. “It was an unfortunate situation, but that’s pretty much what happened,” Thilo said.

Coeur d’Alene Mayor Sandi Bloem said she would have “absolutely” gone to Boise to participate in the meeting had she known the corridor was to be discussed.

“I guess I would say that I’m disappointed that, if it was going to be an agenda item, that those of us who are so involved in the concept and the need would not have been invited to participate in the meeting,” Bloem said Wednesday evening.

She said she and other corridor supports will continue looking for other ways to fund the mill site purchase.

“I think our next step has been what it’s always been: Keep the dream in mind,” Bloem said. She agreed with Thilo that the rejection of support was more about the timing than the actual concept.

“I’m not taking it as a denial of the concept,” Bloem said.

Though NIC is not under the control of the state board, two major partners in the corridor, the University of Idaho and Lewis-Clark State College, are. Some are worried the state board’s rejection of support could prevent the two schools from lobbying legislators to support corridor funding.

“It puts them in a position, unfortunately, of being insubordinate,” said Rolly Jurgens, NIC’s vice president for administration.

NIC board members said the vote reflects the disconnect between the northern and southern parts of Idaho.

“I think the last sentence (of Burke’s letter) should say, ‘We are so glad we have local control,’ ” NIC board member Christie Wood said.