The governor of Idaho has always had the power to greatly impact higher education in the state, but the University of Idaho community may relate more than usual to a current candidate for governor because he happens to be a fellow Vandal.
Lieutenant Governor Brad Little announced his candidacy for the 2018 race for governor back in June. Current Governor C. L. “Butch” Otter had previously stated he had no intention of running again.
Having announced his candidacy two years before the election, Little is the first candidate in the 2018 gubernatorial election for Idaho.
As an undergraduate student, Little earned a degree in agribusiness from UI. During his time as a Vandal student, he was a Phi Delta Theta Fraternity member and after graduating continued to lead his family to become a part of the Vandal family. Both his sons attended and graduated from UI. His grandchildren are sixth-generation Vandals.
“Both my sons got offers from big accounting firms that were there on campus. (The firms) came to campus and explained the skillset they needed so students could work toward that,” he said.
Little said he enjoyed his time at UI and it helped lead him to the policies and philosophies that impact his career today.
Last legislative session Otter proposed a tuition lock. The policy would keep a student’s tuition at the same price they paid as a freshmen for four years. Little said he wants to make college more affordable, but he isn’t sure the plan would work.
He said he is worried about unintended consequences and would like evidence that the plan would work before recommending it. Instead, Little said he would like to see a combination of increases in funding and efficiency. Some efficiency, he said could come from consolidating satellite campuses.
Otter’s goal of getting 60 percent of 25 to 35-year-olds an education past high school has been a focus of the state’s education policy in recent years. The goal has come under fire, however, as the state’s position at about 40 percent has remained stagnant and even dipped.
“The numbers for what’s going to be required in the workforce are compelling. Every field from education to working in the modern factory requires more specifically trained workers,” Little said.
He said often employers will educate their employees, but it would be better for workers and the economy if their skills were transferrable.
Much of the 2016 legislative session focused on career technical education. This is not UI’s specialty and Little said it should stay that way.
“Moscow’s not very far from (Lewis-Clark State College), which works with career technical,” Little said. “I am a huge advocate for career technical, but one of the things we ought to do in Moscow is produce world-class career technical educators in forestry mining agriculture and send them out in the state.”
He said it is good for the state’s colleges and universities to specialize. UI, he said should produce graduates who can design the factories and paper mills of the future and the software to run them. Other schools like Lewis-Clark State College (LCSC) and Idaho State University can focus on the career-technical side to provide the workers to run the paper mills and factories of the future, he said.
“Lewiston’s industries are the classic example,” Little said. “LCSC can give them some of people working at one level, but they’ll tell you they’re hiring engineers out of Moscow. That’s where the job growth is.”
He also suggested UI work with Washington State University.
“UI is unique in the world in that it has a competing land grant institution just seven miles away,” Little said. “I would like to see those programs cross-pollinate.”
Nishant Mohan can be reached at