North Idaho College requested an increase in state funding next year of more than $1 million, but Gov. Butch Otter instead is recommending a small cut in NIC’s budget. That means priorities that the Coeur d’Alene college has identified – from doubling the capacity of its popular new computer science program to stationing college counselors in high schools around the region to help students figure out their options after high school – could go unfunded next year.

Though Otter’s overall budget proposal for the state’s four community colleges for next year shows a 15 percent increase, that’s largely because of the addition of the new College of Eastern Idaho, formed by voters this year. Otter’s budget proposal for NIC shows a 2.3 percent decrease from this year’s state funding. You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.