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College of Eastern Idaho urges $2M+ ongoing support, highlights CTE wait lists and capacity limits
Summary
Kevin Campbell told JFAC the FY 2024 appropriation to the College of Eastern Idaho was $7,003,700; CEI leaders told the committee the college is capacity constrained and has hundreds of students waiting for CTE seats.
Kevin Campbell, a Legislative Services Office analyst, presented the base budget overview for the College of Eastern Idaho and said, “The FY 2024 appropriation to CEI was $7,003,700.”
Lori Barber, president of College of Eastern Idaho, told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee that CEI has grown from about 700 students when it was Eastern Idaho Technical College to roughly 3,600 degree‑seeking students and more than 14,000 workforce‑training participants.
Barber said capacity constraints are CEI’s primary challenge. She told lawmakers that in fall 2024 CEI had 465 CTE students on wait lists for programs and that the campus built in 2007 now serves nearly 4,000 credit students in fall terms on the same physical footprint. “In fall 20 24, we actually had 462 65 CTE students who wanted a space in 1 of our CTE programs,” Barber said, describing the scale of unmet demand.
Barber and committee members discussed local employer partnerships that expand capacity; she cited INL providing instructors for cybersecurity expansion and Teton Toyota supporting a micro‑credential/apprenticeship pathway for automotive technicians. Barber said industry partnerships allow CEI to expand training despite tight budgets, but she said additional resources are still needed to serve all applicants.
On compensation, Barber said CEI has 20 full‑time faculty paid below K‑12 averages and that raising adjunct and full‑time pay to K‑12 averages would cost about $2,260,000. She described losing staff to higher‑paying private industry examples.
Barber asked the committee to support the postsecondary funding proposal under discussion. “I ask for your support of the 25,000,000 in the budget for post secondary institutions, particularly that 10,000,000 that has been designated for community and technical colleges to grow CTE,” Barber said. She added, “For CEI, I can tell you an increase in our general fund allocation from that 10,000,000 of at least $2,000,000 ongoing would be absolutely transformational.”
Committee members and Barber discussed how CEI would use EWA and targeted CTE funds. Barber said CEI would hire science and math faculty to support prerequisites for health‑care CTE programs and invest in equipment and faculty for welding, mechatronics, nursing and cybersecurity if it receives its share of the proposed CTE funding pool.
No formal votes occurred during the CEI presentation. Committee members thanked Barber for the briefing and asked for follow‑up information on capacity, program breakdowns for wait lists, and specific equipment and faculty needs tied to any requested funds.
