ISU president pledges accountability, return of forensic lab funds and outlines FY2026 budget requests

Rob Wagner, president of Idaho State University, told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, Jan. 29, that ISU will implement stronger controls and return remaining funds connected to an Eastern Idaho forensic pathology lab after reviews found mixed communications and a transfer of the funds to a county.

Wagner told the committee that the university became aware in late 2023 that the county no longer wished to site a pathology facility on ISU’s Pocatello campus. He said ISU ‘‘was very grateful and very pleased to be recognized by the legislature’’ for the appropriation but acknowledged the university ‘‘must do better’’ in tracking and owning legislative funds. ‘‘Legislative intent is law and it's incredibly important for us as an institution when those funds come to us that we take full and complete responsibility and realize and understand what that intent is,’’ Wagner said.

The matter was first described to the committee by Kevin Campbell, a Budget and Policy Analyst with the Legislative Services Office, who opened the university budget presentation and noted technical issues in tuition-fee accounting on slides but said ISU had not overdrawn its account. Campbell summarized ISU’s enrollment (more than 12,000 students), staffing levels and the university’s base budget.

Why it matters

The committee’s review followed press reporting about the proposed Eastern Idaho Forensic Pathology Center and an internal ISU…