Capital Budget Request

2026 Capital Budget Request

Major project work

Anchored in local communities across Washington, our 34 community and technical colleges collectively enrolled about 307,000 students in the 2024-25 school year. We proudly serve a very diverse student population. Our students are more likely to be the first in their families to attend college, come from lower-income families, be people of color, hold down jobs while enrolled, and care for parents or children. The median age is 26.

The community and technical college system’s 2026 supplemental capital budget request of $150 million includes construction funding for two major projects in the system’s pipeline: the CC5 Gateway Building at Cascadia College and the Triton Learning Commons at Edmonds College. These buildings will allow those colleges to consolidate support services in one location, improving their ability to meet the needs of their students.

Climate-conscious solutions

Seven additional projects will help colleges meet Washington state’s decarbonization goals. As required by the Washington State Clean Buildings Performance Standard, these colleges will work to convert their campus district energy systems from natural gas-fired boilers and heating systems to electricity.

With full funding of the college system’s capital request, Seattle Central, Clark, and North Seattle colleges will complete building upgrades and install energy-efficient heat pumps. Edmonds, Highline, Tacoma, and Cascadia colleges will implement critical studies of electrical infrastructure and utility service capacity to ensure their ability to power future electrified heating systems.

Long-term investments

Every day, our students, faculty, and staff rely on climate-controlled buildings to learn and work in safe and comfortable places. Heating and cooling, though, can be a significant source of high ongoing and emergency costs, inefficiencies, and greenhouse gas emissions.

To ensure fiscal responsibility, lessen the effects of climate impacts, and support the state’s climate commitment goals, the State Board requests funding to fine-tune and upgrade college building mechanical, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. These projects will help colleges and the state offset increasing operating budget impacts, extend the life of systems, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

One request will help colleges retune building mechanical systems to improve energy efficiency by optimizing HVAC system performance. The second request focuses on long-term improvements to mechanical system controls to adapt building heating, cooling, and ventilation when and where it’s needed. Funding the third request will help colleges phase out HVAC systems that run on ozone-depleting HCFC-22 refrigerant prohibited by the Montreal Protocol, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and Washington state climate regulations.

The State Board will allocate funding to colleges through a competitive process so they can proactively modernize and improve aging and obsolete HVAC and mechanical building systems.

Certificate of participation/alternative financing requests