state politics: idaho

Idaho JFAC Proposes $10 Million for Scholarships

By Sharon Fisher, 2-28-08

After some discussion – where everyone expressed their support for scholarships and for Governor Butch Otter’s plan to fund them – the Idaho Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee voted today to put $10 million of one-time funding into a fund for scholarships, down from a request for $50 million from Otter.

Senator Stan Bastian, R-Eagle, made the original $10 million motion; Senator Eliot Werk, D-Boise, made a substitute motion of $50 million, while Representative Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, made an amended substitute motion of $20 million.

Bastian noted that by putting in $10 million a year, the fund would have the $100 million desired by Otter in eight more years, which, at 6% interest, would provide scholarships of $6 million per year.

Werk commended Otter for having a “multigenerational perspective” by setting up the scholarship fund.

Senator Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, agreed that Otter deserved to be commended for that. “Unfortunately, when he set his budget, finances were at a different point,” he said. While there were various stabilization funds that could be used, “now is not the time to be withdrawing from those accounts in order to balance the budget. If you can’t balance the budget on revenues now, how can you do it if revenues get worse? There are a host of other issues we have not been able to fund and will not be able to fund,” reminding the committee that major components of the budget such as public education were still to come.

The vote for the $20 million scholarship was 4-16 (Werk voted yes), for $50 million 3-17, and for $10 million was 19-1. The larger motions broke across partisan lines.

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