Appropriates $37,519,000 to the State Board of Education for community colleges for fiscal year 2017; exempts appropriation object and program transfer limitations; provides legislative intent relating to system-wide expenditures; and requires an update on the Complete College Idaho initiative.

This is the FY 2017 appropriation to Community Colleges in the amount of $37,519,000. This appropriation provides for increased cost of benefits, the equivalent of a 3% ongoing change in employee compensation, and a nondiscretionary adjustment for enrollment workload decreases. This appropriation includes eight line items. Line item 1 provides $375,500 from the General Fund for the Complete College Idaho efforts. Of this amount, $372,500 is ongoing and $3,000 is one-time. The funding amounts and purposes of the funding are as follows: $242,500 at CSI to address dual credit education services and $133,000 at NIC for student retention and transition efforts. Line item 2 provides $113,200 from the General FundforCSItohireinstructionalsupportstafftodevelopandimplementinstructionalimprovement plansforselectstudentswhoaretakinghigh-riskcoursessuchasbiology, chemistry, andhigh-level math. Lineitem3provides$107,600fromtheGeneralFundtoCSItohireaninstructionaldesigner toimproveonlineandhybridcoursesandworktomaintainanexcellenceinteachingprotocol. Line item 4 provides $91,500 from the General Fund to CSI to hire an institutional researcher to address CSI's internal and external reporting, data analysis, and predictive analytics. Line item 5 provides $400,000 from the General Fund to CWI to narrow the difference between CWI's enrollment workload adjustment (EWA) weighted credit hour value and those same values of CSI and NIC. This funding would narrow the gap by 2.5%. Line item 6 provides $200,000 from the General Fund to CWI to hire three full-time positions to improve the student-to-advisor ratio and to provide outreach to special student populations. Line item 10 provides $1,929,000 from the General Fund to backfill the current and projected decreases in enrollment at the three community colleges. This includes $695,200 to CSI, $618,000 to NIC, and $615,800 to CWI. Line item 11 provides $615,100 to NIC for occupancy costs. This funding will address nearly 111,000 square feet