POCATELLO -- The State Board of Education has confirmed that Idaho State University would like to spend about $600,000 on a new house for the school's president.
The board will vote on the expenditure Monday during a 2 p.m. special teleconference meeting with ISU officials. The board reported that more information on the proposed purchase will be available at some point this week when the agenda for the meeting is released.
ISU officials have confirmed that the university is hoping to make an approximately $600,000 real estate purchase, but they declined to comment further.
The new proposed home for ISU President Arthur Vailas is a 6,000-square-foot house south of Pocatello city limits. The price tag includes several acres of land surrounding the home.
If the new home purchase is approved by the State Board of Education, Vailas would no longer reside at the university's longtime president's house on South Seventh Avenue, a few blocks from ISU's campus.
The house on South Seventh has been ISU's official president's mansion since 1951 when it was purchased by the State Board of Education for that purpose.
The South Seventh house was originally built in 1917 by wealthy sheepherder Xavier Servel.
In October the State Board of Education approved a new residence for University of Idaho's president to replace a house that was built on UI's campus in 1967. The new residence is to be built on the same property where the current UI president's home now stands. The current home will be demolished. The State Board reported that $1.3 million of the $1.95 million price tag for the new residence is being paid for by the UI Foundation. The University of Idaho will pick up the difference.
Boise State University does not provide a house for its president. Instead BSU pays its president a $26,000 per year housing allowance.