Lewis‑Clark State College budgets, enrollment and salary gaps highlighted before JFAC

Lewis‑Clark State College told the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee on Jan. 27 that enrollment gains in some programs and state grant programs are helping but that structural budget pressures remain, particularly on employee compensation.

Kevin Campbell, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, opened the presentation with a budget overview for Lewis‑Clark, citing a base FY2025 appropriation of $41,700,000 and explaining how institutions reappropriate tuition and fee revenue across fiscal years. “It’s important to note that reappropriation does not mean unspent or uncommitted or unaccountable,” Campbell said.

Why it matters: The college said recent state enhancements and grant programs have supported career technical and health programs, but LC State officials told the committee that long‑standing formula weights in the enrollment workload adjustment (EWA) and a persistent faculty and staff pay gap constrain competitiveness and recruitment.

Campbell explained the EWA as “a formula established by the State Board of Education” that adjusts funding based on a three‑year weighted credit‑hour total; he said Lewis‑Clark will see a $102,500 reduction in FY2026 under the formula. President Cynthia Pemberton told the committee the formula produces a net zero across the system only in certain years and noted Lewis‑Clark’s average credit‑hour weighting—about 1.85—compares with 2.51 at sister institutions, reducing the college’s potential positive outcome under the formula over decades.

Pemberton cited program‑level enrollment gains tied to the LAUNCH scholarship program: “About 240 different individual students were recipients of LAUNCH funds this fall,” she said, adding that career and technical education enrollment was up 19% in the fall and another 10% in the spring cycle. She also described LAUNCH’s effect on apprenticeship completion, saying 36 of 54 fourth‑year electrical‑apprentices completed their program last fall with LAUNCH support.

On compensation, Pemberton said LC State faculty earn less than peers and K‑12 comparators: she said an LC State instructor earns about $9,000 less annually than the K‑12 average and an assistant professor about $3,777 less. The college requested $287,000 in operational capacity enhancement to apply to compensation and indicated it needs about $1.2 million to materially close gaps toward a median benchmark.

Pemberton also outlined program expansions and accomplishments the college cited to the committee: the college is North Idaho’s “health care education leader,” now able to offer graduate nursing and cyber accounting programs; it received a U.S. Army preferred‑program recognition for its nursing program; and Lewis‑Clark completed a transition from the U.S. Department of Education’s experimental Pell pilot to full prison‑education program approval and is serving nearly 200 incarcerated students across sites in Orofino, Pocatello and Boise.

Committee members asked for comparative salary data and enrollment numbers. Campbell and Pemberton said staff would provide institution‑level salary comparables and that Campbell is preparing a systemwide compensation compilation. Pemberton told the committee LC State’s enrollment profile is “primarily Pell‑eligible first‑generation local regional residents,” that fall 2024 overall enrollment rose 2.4% and spring enrollment was up 9%, and that the college’s strategic aim is modest growth into the mid‑4,000s rather than large scale enrollment increases.

Pemberton closed by noting how the college used prior operational capacity enhancements—occupancy funding for a new Schweitzer Career Technical Engineering Building, marketing and IT—and asked for continued legislative support to sustain operations and address the salary gap.

Ending: Committee members asked for the salary data and enrollment figures to be circulated. No formal action or vote occurred at the hearing; the presentation concluded with staff committing to provide the requested comparables and clarifying materials.