Higher education budget requests focus on staff additions, pay raises

Kevin Richert, Idaho Ed News

(Idaho Ed News) — Idaho’s colleges and universities look to person 2 recurring fund priorities.

They want to adhd staff, and they want to springiness salary raises to unit already connected hand.

The colleges and universities precocious submitted their fund requests for 2025-26 — nan first measurement successful a process that will unfold astatine nan Statehouse successful nan adjacent six months aliases so.

The requests see respective statement items that autumn nether 2 jargony categories.

The four-year schools submitted $3.4 cardinal successful “occupational capacity enhancement” statement items. These are, successful essence, discretionary fund items. These requests are down considerably from nan erstwhile year, erstwhile nan four-year schools wound up receiving adjacent to $7 million successful discretionary items.

Five schools sought money for “enrollment workload adjustment,” aliases EWA. As nan sanction suggests, this money is designed to screen accrued costs that travel pinch accrued student numbers. This fund is based connected three-year enrollment patterns, and 3 colleges and universities are ineligible.

Here are thumbnails connected nan fund requests.

Four-year schools

Boise State University

Total 2025-26 request: $300,266,500, up 3.6%.

Discretionary statement item: $1,178,400, to thief screen salary raises. “Boise State has struggled to clasp qualified unit who are often recruited by different employers that salary higher salaries for balanced positions,” Boise State says successful its fund request. “This has resulted successful precocious worker turnover rates, peculiarly successful classified and non-faculty positions.”

Enrollment-based dollars: Boise State is besides seeking $195,700 successful EWA funding.

University of Idaho

Total 2025-26 request: $203,854,200, up 3.8%.

Discretionary statement item: $996,300, besides for module and unit salary raises. “Salary competitiveness is simply a semipermanent rumor – not readily corrected successful 1 twelvemonth and easy to suffer crushed on.”

Idaho State University

Total 2025-26 request: $172,768,100, up 4.3%.

Discretionary statement item: $907,300 for salaries, and to thief screen inflation.

Enrollment-based dollars: $988,100. Idaho State says it would walk nan money connected “high-demand wellness programs crossed nan state,” arsenic good arsenic statewide recruiting efforts.

Lewis-Clark State College

Total 2025-26 request: $42,952,100, up 3%.

Discretionary statement item: $287,900. Lewis-Clark’s module salaries aren’t conscionable little than nan state’s four-year universities; they besides lag down K-12 pay. This statement point will almost erase nan spread betwixt Lewis-Clark and K-12.

Community colleges

College of Western Idaho

Total 2025-26 request: $22,040,100, up 2.7%.

Enrollment-based dollars: $265,000, to money 3 full-time positions: a student occurrence coach, a student advisor and a student services operations director.

College of Southern Idaho

Total 2025-26 request: $20,707,900, up 4.2%.

Enrollment-based dollars: $475,700, to prosecute further module and adjunct faculty.

North Idaho College

Total 2025-26 request: $15,509,300, down 0.8%.

Enrollment-based dollars: While nan state’s different two-year schools could person further backing to accommodate further students, a agelong inclination of enrollment decreases could trim into NIC’s bottommost line. The backing alteration will mostly impact part-time module and staff.

College of Eastern Idaho

Total 2025-26 request: $8,202,400, up 6.1%.

Enrollment-based dollars: $413,200, for unit additions.

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Next steps: nan politician and nan Legislature

The spending requests were owed successful precocious August. They now spell to Gov. Brad Little and his fund team.

Little will make his fund recommendations connected Jan. 6, nan first time of nan 2025 legislative session. Legislators must past constitute up — and walk — a raft of agency fund bills for Little’s consideration.

The assemblage and universities’ fund is usually 1 of nan past fund bills lawmakers see each session, and often among nan astir contentious. The fund for nan 4 organization colleges is mostly little controversial.

Originally posted connected IdahoEdNews.org connected Sept. 10, 2024