Idaho’s community colleges are due for an 8.7 percent increase in state funding next year, under a budget approved on an 18-2 vote this morning in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. The budget, at $36.9 million in state funds, is slightly below Gov. Butch Otter’s recommendation, which called for a 9.6 percent increase.

A group of JFAC members who crafted the budget said it was crafted with an eye toward equity, to give roughly the same percentage increases in funding to the state’s three community colleges, North Idaho College, the College of Southern Idaho and the College of Western Idaho. Rep. Steve Miller, R-Fairfield, proposed the budget; it was also worked on by Sens. Keough, Mortimer, Brackett and Lacey and Reps. Bell, Horman, King and Gannon.

The budget still needs House and Senate passage and the governor’s signature to become law, but budget bills rarely change once they’re set by the joint committee.