The conference report on the 2007-09 capital budget was released last night around 9:30 p.m. Funding for UW projects was identical to the Governor and Senate budgets with more than $143 million in new state support making this the best overall capital budget for the University in a decade. A detailed summary of the capital budget will be available later today.
The bigger surprise was that legislative capital budget negotiators have apparently decided that the answer to meeting higher education needs in the Snohomish-Island-Skagit county area is for the UW to establish a third branch campus in that area. The University is granted the same authority to govern and operate the campus that it currently has in Bothell and Tacoma. The UW will work with OFM between now and the next legislative session on issues related to site selection and campus formation. A total of $4 million in new funding is provided.
Here is the lead story from this morning’s Everett Herald on the new UW campus.
The 2007-09 operating budget will be released at noon today in Olympia.