Running a Boise branch of the University of Idaho law school could turn out to be cheaper than finding a place to put it.

The State Board of Education may decide Thursday to let U of I move ahead with a branch campus in Boise by 2010.

Operating costs, including improvements at the Moscow campus, would be about $6 million more than the $8 million U of I now annually spends on its law school.

But the university wants its Boise campus housed in a new Idaho Law Learning Center, a separate $30 million Idaho Supreme Court proposal that also would be home to the state's law library and continuing education classes.

Legislative budget writers aren't ready yet to say they can pay for the proposed center, which could be housed in the old Ada County Courthouse.

The law center's $30 million price tag is a big ticket item for lawmakers, who are keeping a careful eye on Idaho's sagging economy and its effect on tax collections.

"We are obviously trying to be cautious to keep us from having budget cuts, hold-backs or tax increases," said Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, co-chair of the Legislature's budget committee. When "we get close, (we'll) see what revenues look like."

Any approval for construction or remodeling money still could be a couple of years away.

Pairing the law school and the law center would make good use of state resources, Don Burnett, U of I law school dean, said. But if it doesn't happen, "We would search for other alternatives to meet our needs."

Burnett is expected to present a plan to the State Board to start a law school branch in Boise while enhancing the Moscow campus law school with improvements to the Menard Law Building.

A dual-campus approach would cost an additional $6 million a year by 2017. The school would ask lawmakers to cover $3.7 million, or about 60 percent of the total. The rest would come from private sources and student fees.

U of I now gets about $4.8 million in state money for its $8 million operating budget.

A campus in Boise would boost the attractiveness of the the state's only law school and put law education in the heart of the state's legal and political arena, supporters say.

Burnett envisions that the two campuses would have a total of 500 students, up from the 300 now at the Moscow campus. But Burnett doesn't think that will flood the market.

Yet even as U of I is pushing for a Boise campus, Concordia University in Portland is moving ahead with plans to open a private law school in the city as early as 2009.

Idaho is an importer of lawyers. In 2007, for example, 242 attorneys were admitted to the bar. Only 58 were U of I graduates.

Republican state Sen. Gary Schroeder says opening the Boise campus could eventually lead to moving the whole law school out of Moscow, the area Schroeder represents.

But Senate Assistant Majority Leader Joe Stegner, a Lewiston Republican who lives in Lewiston, about 30 miles from Moscow, says the law school plan is important for the university and the state.

U of I "relied on strong political influence for a century to protect their base," Stegner said. "They can secure their future by being a little more broadminded ... and not nearly as protectionist."

For Liz Wright, a Meridian wife and mother, Thursday's board vote could move her one step closer to her dream of going to law school. Wright, 41, has worked on her criminal justice degree for 17 years. She could graduate from Boise State University in the next year or so. Without the Boise campus, her dream will stall, because she can't leave her family to get a law degree, she said.

In a letter to Schroeder, she wrote, "I would ask you to consider situations like mine before you take such a strong opposition against the idea of Boise having a law school. Fear of expansion and growth only limits one's potential."

Bill Roberts: 377-6408