State Board set to approve budget requests to governor, Legislature

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges will hold a special meeting Wednesday, Aug. 30 from 2 to 5 p.m. The board is expected to take action on the college system's 2024 supplemental operating budget and capital budget requests to the Washington state governor and Legislature. The operating request asks the Legislature to support expanding Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degrees and expanding the Washington Open ProfTech project, which develops open-source course materials in community and technical college professional-technical programs.

The Washington state Legislature in 2021 opened the opportunity for all community and technical colleges to offer computer science bachelor's degrees. Previously, the Legislature in 2016 granted Bellevue College the ability to offer the degree.

The capital budget request asks the Legislature to fund two major projects at Lower Columbia College and Columbia Basin College. It also requests the Legislature to authorize alternative financing for a major project at Renton Technical College and to provide funding for the college system to comply with state energy and climate requirements.

The agenda and background materials are posted on the State Board website. The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held by Zoom.