Leadership in the House Appropriations Committee released their 2015-17 operating budget proposal on Friday – . The proposal provides $3.48 billion of Near General Fund听State听for higher education which is a slight increase over the total higher education appropriations in the Governor’s budget.
On the operating side, the 91探花would receive $595.6 million of Near General Fund State across the biennium 鈥� $95 million more than we听received in 2013-15.
Here are some of the key points from the House听operating budget proposal:
- Tuition freeze for resident undergraduate students over the biennium.
- $50 million in biennial funding to offset tuition freeze and fund compensation increases.
- $8 million in FY17 to support Computer Science engineering enrollment.
- $3 million in FY17 for additional medical residencies in Washington State.
- $4.68 million transfer from WSU to the 91探花in both FY16 and FY17 to support the WWAMI program.
- $1.7 million over the biennium to cover operation and maintenance costs for 91探花Bothell Discovery Hall.
- $1 million for an ungulate predation study — $600,000 of which would pass through to another state agency.
- No funding for Climates Impacts Group, although the Governor鈥檚 funding had provided$1 million provided for this purpose.
Overall, the 91探花fared well in the House operating budget compared to the Governor budget.
On the capital side, the 91探花would receive $41.156 million in new funding from the State Building Construction Account. This is significantly less than the Governor鈥檚 proposed budget of $86.2 million, with less funding for the CSE Expansion ($6.033 million of the $40 million requested) and no funding to support the completion of the phased renovation of Lewis Hall. It does however propose a greater amount of funding for the Burke Museum ($26 million), but is still less than the Burke鈥檚 requested $46 million.
The Senate will release its proposed operating and capital budgets in the coming weeks.听 For an analysis and summary of the operating and capital budgets, please review the听.