As the Legislature’s joint budget committee opens a full week of education budget hearings, state Board of Education President Linda Clark opened with an overview. She noted that while the K-12 public school budget for 2018 is 48.8 percent of the total state general fund budget – “exactly the same proportional share” as it was in 1997 – the higher education budget, for the state’s public colleges and universities, has dropped from 12.6 percent of the state general fund budget in 1997 to 8.3 percent this year.

“The governor’s budget continues to invest in the K-12 task force recommendations, and I think the Legislature should be commended for the diligence in funding and moving those task force recommendations forward,” Clark told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.

She said the governor’s new 36-member higher education task force now points the way toward improving higher ed as well. “It was a very large task completed on a very short timeline, but I believe the task force recommendations provide a sound pathway for the future of higher ed in Idaho, and that they point out some much-needed improvements in our system,” Clark said.

She summarized the governor’s budget recommendations both for K-12 and higher ed, and noted that Idaho is one of just two states with a single board that oversees both. That allows it to address the system as a whole, she said, focusing on what she called “system-ness.”

“We need to ensure that our system is greater than the sum of its parts. We know currently there are kinks and bends in our system, there are places of duplication, and places where we frankly can do better. And that’s the task I believe the task force set out.”

She said, “College is expensive, but a cost benefit analysis proves its worth. … Economists say benefits of attending college still outweigh the cost, as graduates can realize much higher earnings and wealth over their lifetimes. Data bear this out.”

She highlighted two efforts to increase the number of Idaho students going on to college that she said are working: Advanced opportunities, and the new “Apply Idaho” program.

Advanced opportunities allow Idaho high school students to earn “dual credits,” good for both high school and college credit. “I am delighted to report to you this morning,” Clark said, that in the past year, “143,161 dual credit hours were earned by 25,961 Idaho high school students. … For the Idaho high school graduating class of 2016, just over 40 percent of them had earned some dual credits.”

Students who earn college credits in high school have higher immediate college attendance rates, she reported, and also are showing higher retention rates. “Generally retention rates increase with the number of credits taken,” she said. “The more credits you put in your back pocket, the greater the chances that you will go on and the greater the chances that you will finish.” For next year, Gov. Butch Otter is recommending an $8 million increase in funding for advanced opportunities for Idaho high school students.

Clark also highlighted the “Apply Idaho” program, a “single, web-based college application tool.” Launched this fall, it allows Idaho seniors to apply to Idaho public universities for free with a simple program that they can complete on their smartphones in about 10 minutes; their high school transcripts are automatically forwarded to the desired university by the state’s longitudinal data system.

She noted Gov. Butch Otter’s proposal to add $5 million a year to the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program, to bring it to a total of $15 million annually. Otter is planning to introduce legislation to authorize up to 20 percent, or $3 million, of that to be used for “adult completer” scholarships, to go to adults with some college credits seeking to complete their degrees. “Almost 40 percent of Idaho college students are over 25, so our efforts to improve degree attainment must include these adults,” she said. Simply based on the numbers, “We cannot reach our 60 percent goal without inclusion of this group.”

For several years now, Idaho has been pursuing a goal of getting 60 percent of its residents to go on to some form of higher education beyond high school, but that goal has been proving elusive.

Yet, Clark noted, “While most of the nation experienced a decline in the number of students going to college, Idaho saw an increase of 1.9 percent - only four states saw an increase.” She said that “speaks to the value and the quality of our educational institutions.”

Clark said over the past four years, tuition and fees at Idaho’s public four-year college and universities have increased an average of 3.2 percent a year, driven by the need to cover costs for “state approved salary and health insurance increases for faculty and staff.” While calling the governor’s recommendation for another 3 percent boost in state employee pay through merit raises, which she called “vitally important to the recruitment and retention of faculty and staff,” she said, “in the interest of full and fair disclosure,” if the Legislature passes a CEC increase, 43 percent of the cost must be covered by student tuition. “A tuition increase would be needed,” she said.

She also noted that the changes proposed by the higher education task force, including consolidating an array of functions including human resources, finance, procurement, and IT, will require staff increases at the office of the state Board of Education. “The state board office will require additional human resources if we’re going to undertake these changes,” Clark said. “We’ll need more hands to do the work.”

“As a lifelong educator,” she said, “I believe education is an investment, not an expense. This is true at the individual, local and state level.”