Lewis-Clark State College seeks operational funding, cites enrollment mix and salary gap

Madam Cochair and members of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee heard Thursday that Lewis-Clark State College is requesting modest operational capacity funding for FY2026 while continuing to absorb enrollment-driven formula changes and addressing a multi-year salary gap.

Kevin Campbell, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, presented the college's budget overview and said the college’s FY2025 base general-fund appropriation is roughly $41.7 million and that tuition and fees—about $23.7 million in FY2024—are reappropriated into the state's budget cycle and shown separately in the budget materials.

That distinction matters because the college and universities operate on both General Fund appropriations and reappropriated tuition and fee authority, Campbell said. He also summarized several institution-specific endowment funds and noted distributions for the legacy "normal school" fund are codified in Idaho law.

Why it matters: Committee members pressed college leaders about items that affect pay and program capacity—particularly the Enrollment Workload Adjustment (EWA), which reallocates a pool of funds among institutions based on a three-year weighted credit-hour measure, and…