The University of Idaho will soon announce a new plan to purchase the University of Phoenix, U of I President C. Scott Green said.
But Green did not provide further details and said behind-the-scenes talks were ongoing.
“I want to move forward with this,” Green told state education board members Wednesday morning. “We’re trying to figure out what that will look like. … We believe there are a few different routes available.”
Three weeks ago, the Senate rejected legislation designed to improve the controversial $685 million purchase and resolve political and legal problems plaguing the plan. After the vote, two Republican legislative leaders said the U of I's attempt to acquire the giant online for-profit university had largely failed.
Additional Resources: Click here for exclusive, in-depth coverage of the proposed Phoenix purchase.
On Wednesday, Green said the U of I continues to have conversations with Phoenix and its owner, Apollo Global Management, while also speaking with state boards, legislators and Gov. Brad Little's staff.
It's unclear how U of I and Phoenix will restructure the deal.
The original plan, approved by the state board last May, would have placed Phoenix under the umbrella of a nonprofit organization partnering with the University of Illinois. Several lawyers, including Attorney General Raúl Labrador, have argued that the plan is unconstitutional.
The Senate bill would have sidestepped this legal dispute and created an independent, quasi-public agency to oversee Phoenix. But creating the agency requires legislative approval, and lawmakers last week postponed the 2024 session.
The Phoenix controversy has been the focus of the U of I during the 94-day legislative session. In an email to University of Illinois employees and students on Tuesday, Green touted several gains at the Statehouse, including funding for expanded health care programs, funding for faculty and staff pay increases and funding to launch Idaho higher education programs. In emails and state committee comments, Greene accused the Phoenix vote of being driven by politics. Both times he did not elaborate.
“There was a lot of political maneuvering and a lot of misinformation or new information, depending on how you look at it, so we had to address this and respond,” Green told state committee members.
The pushback from the Legislature was directed not only at Ely University but also at the state board that serves as the university's board of trustees. It was the state board's approval that moved forward with the Phoenix purchase, much to the chagrin of many lawmakers who complained about being stalled in the process.
State Board member Kurt Liebich expressed support for the deal and Green's vision for partnerships with online colleges and universities, but asked about the U of I's hopes of closing the deal early this year. “Where do we go from here?” asked Livitch.
Any new plans would delay the Phoenix acquisition.
The original contract approved by the state board included a voluntary refusal date. This would allow U of I or Phoenix to stop purchasing on May 31. Green said there was no way to meet that deadline. But he said all parties remain. He promises to buy.
'We talk a lot about the Vandal family'
In November 2022, many U of I students fled campus while investigators searched for clues in a horrific incident that killed four students off campus.
There was no such option in Saloni Khetan. Khetan, who is from Nepal, stayed on campus throughout the fall semester and said she felt safe there.
“It was really cool to see how the community came together,” Khetan told state board members Wednesday.
At the start of a two-day meeting on the Moscow campus, state committee members heard from a panel of Ili University students and faculty reflecting on the tumultuous events of the past few years.
The State Board of Education meeting is scheduled to continue Thursday with discussions on college tuition and fees. Committee staff recommended an overall 3 percent raise for in-state undergraduate students. Check back on Thursday to see the full meeting.
Online learning has become something of a “transactional relationship” during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Brian Fowler, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Exercise Science at the University of Illinois. Now, he said, students are more engaged. Now, with enrollment increasing and more students in classrooms, problems arise.
Spencer Martin, director of the U of I Marching Band, said too many past administrators viewed U of I as a starting point. Martin praised Green and Provost Torrey Lawrence for staying the course.
“They didn’t bail us out through all of this,” he said. “There is an investment in us, especially our students.”
Sophia Mangini, an accounting graduate student and native of Moscow, said her college experience began during the pandemic. From the beginning, she said, the support from the community has been “incredible.”
“We talk a lot about the Vandal family, and I think that really resonates with me,” she said.
4-Day Board of Directors Interested in District Learning Outcomes
On Wednesday, one simmering K-12 issue remained in the background. The state board will later decide on a new minimum number of school days or hours for public schools at its meeting in June.
In the meantime, the Department of Education is collecting data on trends for four- and five-day school weeks, State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield told the committee. The new minimum is most likely to affect Earth in four-day increments.
On Tuesday, Nampa became the largest school district to adopt a four-day calendar. More than 90 districts and charters have completed the transition, including at least two this year (Emmett and Teton).
State board members wonder whether four-day districts are performing well. Vice President William Gilbert asked Critchfield to provide data showing whether learning outcomes improved in the district over the “enormous” amount of time spent on four days. “We need to have reasonable trend data on outcomes before and after the shift,” he said.
Liebich said she is “really interested” in knowing whether the states with the highest student achievement have common school hours.
Lawmakers directed the state board to set a new minimum number of days or hours by Aug. 1 and implement them no later than July 1, 2025. This order comes from House Bill 521. This is a sweeping school facilities and tax cut bill that would allocate $1 billion to the next school district. Fiscal year and subsequent legislation. The board may introduce standards over a period of years.