We applaud the focus and forward thinking in Gov. Butch Otter’s proposal to reinvest in higher education for the benefit of our state. As the governor noted in his State of the State address, jobs and education, his two top priorities, are inseparable.
Gov. Otter’s support of higher education comes in several forms.
The first is his highly promising iGem (Idaho’s Global Entrepreneurial Mission) program, which focuses on advancing business development and high-tech industry in Idaho by increasing and better leveraging the research and innovations of our universities. Modeled after Utah’s highly successful USTAR program, which has attracted world-class scientists and business enterprise to our neighbor state, the iGem initiative provides a vision for escalating new business and innovation in Idaho by:
- Increasing the amount of research at Idaho’s universities.
- Enabling and encouraging more research technologies from our universities to be turned into businesses.
- Helping more startup companies launch and grow.
IGem seeks an initial investment from the state to provide a competitive funding source for Idaho’s research universities, the Center for Advanced Energy Studies, and the Idaho National Laboratory to develop business and industry partnerships on research and innovations.
If the investment is endorsed by the Legislature, it will send a signal nationwide that Idaho expects to play a significant role in a knowledge-based economy and that our state can and should be a destination for high-tech industry and innovative businesses and for the top scientists and engineers who work with them to fuel economic development.
The governor also seeks to reinvest in our universities’ people. Because most university employees haven’t had a salary increase since 2008, it has been increasingly difficult to retain top researchers and scholars in Idaho; many states continue to make, at minimum, cost-of-living adjustments for their public employees. Our legislators should make it a top priority to retain our world-class teachers and researchers, individuals who are the very heart of our campuses and our students’ experiences.
Gov. Otter’s proposal to reinstitute funding for enrollment growth and the costs associated with running our facilities is also a vital step forward. It will ensure our universities remain viable as they grow to meet the needs of Idaho’s citizens.
And finally, establishing a higher education reserve, similar to our state’s K-12 model, is not only prudent, it is an important down payment on our future. These past four years have illustrated how painful retrenchment and funding cuts can be. This rainy-day fund will provide important protection for our institutions should another recession occur.
It is a sensible and proven formula: Higher education offers the most significant return on investment of state dollars. No other investment in the public sector provides this 10-to-1 return. Gov. Otter believes in the people of Idaho and in our being the architects of our own destiny. We agree. There has never been a better time to drive our future by investing in human and knowledge capital. The state of Idaho and its citizens deserve an educational system that takes all this state has to offer and grows it to its greatest capacity. Idaho’s higher education institutions are up to the challenge.
Bob Kustra is president of Boise State University. Duane Nellis is president of the University of Idaho. Arthur Vailas is president of Idaho State University.
