Talks about turning EITC into a community college underway
The mayor of Idaho Falls wants to see if now is the time bring a community college to eastern Idaho.
Next month, Mayor Rebecca Casper and Rep. Wendy Horman (R) Idaho Falls, will go before the state board of education to talk about possibly turning Eastern Idaho Technical College into a community college. That’s to make the board aware there is interest in doing so.
This has been a discussion for years.
Those involved say will benefit the local economy by creating jobs and help with workforce development.
“Having a local community college would give us a really good place to develop training programs for local business for local people to get jobs in local industries,” said Mayor Casper.
“Organizations like INL would benefit greatly,” said EITC president Rick Aman. “As well as any retail outlets, government within Idaho Falls, any business entity could have customized workforce training .”
Those involved say the biggest challenge would be creating a taxing district because it’s never easy to get people to vote for a tax increase.
The idea is still in its early stages, and there isn’t a drafted proposal yet. The next step is putting out a survey to see what the community thinks about the idea.
