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Contact: Office of the President - 208/792-2216
Budget Address Offers No Surprises: Lewis-Clark
State's
President Thomas Resolute and Continuing with Plans
LEWISTON- "We didn't get any big surprises. There was no magic wand, but nothing
to catch us off-guard, either," said LCSC President Dene Thomas. Thomas was reacting
to news of Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne's Budget Address to the Idaho Legislature
Wednesday morning.
Although a busy schedule prevented Thomas from viewing the governor's address live, she
indicated little surprise when told of a suggested holdback for fiscal year 2003 of nearly
11%. "Our general sense of the budget remains consistent with the messages the
governor has been giving us all fall," she said. "I appreciate his providing us
with timely information all along and his immediate actions in the form of successive FY
'02 holdbacks. He's doing the best he can in a reality where the money just isn't
there."
Idaho higher education institutions have been scrambling to accommodate successive budget
holdbacks and to build contingency plans for additional reductions in 2003. The governor's
address today offered some of the state's "rainy day" funds to cushion the blow
to the state's K-12 public schools; however, higher education, like many other state
agencies, did not get similar help.
Lewis-Clark State has been addressing the budget crisis through its strategic planning
process already in place. Thomas said the college will continue in that vein. "We are
and will continue to look for ways to economize," she said, noting that the school is
considering some organizational changes. "There's no way around it; this will result
in reductions in personnel and programs," she said. "It's not something we want
to do, but we're dealing with that same reality: There just isn't enough money and we're
going to have to look for different ways to operate."
Thomas will be meeting with college employees later in the week and a maintaining a full
schedule of strategic planning related to budget and organizational issues.
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