Idaho’s higher education dollars aren’t following the students, and Boise State University is paying the price, says president Bob Kustra.

The gap is contributing to bottlenecks in class schedules and has added to a 26 percent increase in class sizes, Kustra says.

A report from the State Board of Education shows that Boise State gets only 67 percent of the per-student funding as the University of Idaho.

The gap has grown over the years as Boise State continued to grow while state higher education appropriations tightened.

In 2005, Boise State received87 percent as much money as the top school, which again was the University of Idaho. But the gap has widened by 20 percentage points since then.

“Somebody has to explain to me why apparently it makes no sense to have money following students in public higher education,” Kustra told the Senate Education Committee Thursday. “Money seems to be ... going to empty seats.”

The solution is simple, Kustra said. “We either find a way to allocate more or we find a way to allocate within.”

The State Board of Education, which put together a report following student dollars going to different schools, has cautioned about making comparisons between the school dollar amounts.

“Each institution has its own unique role, mission and purpose, which makes casual side-by-side institutional comparisons problematic or even inappropriate,” Matt Freeman, the board’s chief fiscal officer, wrote in a memo last month to the Legislature’s budget committee.

The report shows per-student dollar comparisons based on a full-time equivalent student count.

But Kustra said the report allows for different programs that may cost more to deliver.

Boise State is feeling the pain from the state’s decision not to fund additional growth at the universities over the past three years. A formula, called the enrollment workload adjustment, is meant to help universities cover about two-thirds of the cost of new students. The money came from the state’s general fund. But in these difficult economic times, the additional money didn’t go to the schools because the state decided not to fund it.

Kustra estimated that has cost his university more than $10 million.

“Boise State University has been the fastest growing university in the state,” said Mike Rush, state board executive director “And the lack of funds from that enrollment workload adjustment has disproportionately affected their institution.”

On top of that, schools face an estimated 4 percent cut from the $217 million budgeted for higher education last year.

Kustra didn’t single out other universities in his appearance before the Senate Education Committee.

But Duane Nellis, University of Idaho president, said some schools incur greater costs in educating students.

U of I turns out more than half of the state’s degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and that course work costs more, he said.

But Boise State officials say they offer a doctoral degree in engineering, just like other schools, but those students aren’t getting an equitable share of funding.

Arguments over funding equity at Idaho’s universities aren’t new.

In 2001, a study showed that Boise State should get between $4.5 million and $13.3 million to close a funding gap. The school eventually received $3.7 million but was counting on a continuation of the money for growth to keep closer to parity.

Bill Roberts: 377-6408