Idaho’s public school system won many victories during this week’s legislative session for 2022. To thank lawmakers and Gov. Brad Little for making unprecedented investments in education is an understatement for our students, schools, and institutions and the dedicated educators across our state who keep our system running despite enormous challenges, particularly over the last two years.
Colleges of the Community
Our public four-year higher education institutions will get a rise of 8% in state financing next year as part of a broader higher education budget that includes support for staff compensation increases. Consequently, our colleges and universities will not propose tuition hikes for the third year in a row when the Board meets next month in Moscow. This is unquestionably a beneficial trend for our students and schools alike.
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Education at the university level
Our public four-year higher education institutions will get a rise of 8% in state financing next year as part of a broader higher education budget that includes support for staff compensation increases. Consequently, our colleges and universities will not propose tuition hikes for the third year in a row when the Board meets next month in Moscow. This is unquestionably a beneficial trend for our students and schools alike.
K-12
The entire budget for Idaho’s public schools will grow by about 6.7 percent next year, including a record 12.5 percent increase in state financing. The budget includes an additional $47 million for literacy to assist young pupils in learning to read by the third grade. Schools will utilize these literacy monies to fund expanded literacy intervention programs like full-day kindergarten to help struggling pupils with literacy.
Other notable pieces of education legislation that became law include the following:
- $105 million in continuous support for school districts and charter schools to strengthen teacher and family health insurance plans while cutting out-of-pocket expenses, resulting in increased take-home pay. Additionally, educators will earn $1,000 incentives for their remarkable efforts since the epidemic started.
- One-time funding for instructional staff and student services personnel is equivalent to the projected amount that would have been allocated via the career ladder for an extra year of service and a roughly 7% increase in salary-based apportionment for school administrators and classified employees.
- Dyslexia screening and education for instructors who deal with pupils that exhibit dyslexia features. House Bill 731 would benefit thousands of Idaho youngsters who have dyslexia by recognizing their features early and providing appropriate therapies to assist them in learning to read.
- A rural educator incentive program is meant to recruit new teachers to rural schools by giving funding to assist with student debt repayment or reimbursement for extra education expenditures such as obtaining credits for subject area coaching qualifications or advanced degrees.
Programs of Medical Residency
This year, the legislature approved unprecedented expenditures in medical residency expansion – from Coeur d’Alene to Pocatello. Idaho ranked 50th in the US regarding the total number of active doctors per 100,000 population in 2020, with more than 30% of these physicians being 60 years or older. Unless immediate action is taken, Idaho is experiencing a severe physician shortage, worsened by fast population expansion. National statistics indicate that most doctors practice medicine in the states where they completed their residencies, which demonstrates the value of extending residency programs in Idaho.
Infrastructure on Campus
This year, state authorities made another significant investment in higher education, providing approximately $220 million for capital projects and deferred maintenance funded through the Permanent Building Fund. That is about five times the average amount of money received by higher education from the Permanent Building Fund during the previous five years.
The following table summarizes the capital projects:
- College of Southern Idaho: $10 million for the construction of a building for automotive and agricultural diesel mechanics
- North Idaho College: $3.3 million for the renovation of a diesel mechanics bay and construction of an aerospace training facility.
- College of Western Idaho: Ten million dollars for the construction of a health science building and five million dollars for the construction of a horticulture building
- Eastern Idaho Colleges: $13 million for its Future Tech facility
- Idaho State University: $3 million for constructing a pedestrian railway crossing on the university’s Idaho Falls campus and $3.4 million for the Leonard Hall Pharmacy building.
- $900,000 to upgrade the McCall Outdoor Science School facility of the University of Idaho
- Approximately $170 million in deferred maintenance across all universities
I cannot express enough how critical this Permanent Building Fund money is in assisting us in providing first-rate educational facilities for our kids and addressing a significant backlog of maintenance concerns on all of our campuses. Idahoans have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on our campuses. The cash made available this year will go a long way toward ensuring the continued operation of our higher education assets.
With a record-breaking state surplus and a federal American Rescue Plan injection, our elected leaders capitalized on a chance. They made a significant impact on public education at all levels. Governor Little and most lawmakers proved their devotion to our children and educators throughout this legislative session, and I applaud them for it.
