The Idaho Policy Institute (IPI) will stick around, despite receiving no support in Gov. Butch Otter’s 2018 budget request to lawmakers, a Boise State University spokesman confirmed this week.

Boise State University, which houses IPI, asked state legislators for more than $2 million to expand the School of Public Service, which operates the institute. Of that, the school would use $1.87 million to pay for 11 new staff positions.

Without Otter’s support, state funding for IPI rests in serious jeopardy. The governor’s office has not said why it declined to fund the program.

During a presentation to the Legislature’s budget-setting panel last month, BSU President Bob Kustra noted Otter’s lack of support and offered no details about the initiative to lawmakers, who would have the final say on funding.

BSU Associate Vice President Greg Hahn confirmed IPI will continue, with or without direct state tax support.

“The institute will certainly continue to exist using the resources the school can devote to it,” Hahn wrote. “It may not grow as quickly to respond to the needs around the state. But I know the dean is committed to finding ways to provide the research, data and support communities need to make informed decisions.”

IPI, founded by BSU late last year, has been operating off $250,000 in grant money from the Idaho National Laboratory, the Public Defense Commission, the cities of Boise and Ketchum, among others.