OLYMPIA — Thousands of students at two Everett high schools could get better access to health care under a proposed state Senate spending plan.
The supplemental capital budget, unveiled Thursday by the Senate, totals $1.3 billion, and allocates money across the state for construction, maintenance and other projects.
For Cascade and Everett high schools, approval of the plan could help pay for new school-based health centers. Last month, Mountlake Terrace High School got the second such clinic in the county. The first opened in 2022 at Meadowdale High School.
The funding would increase medical, behavioral and dental health care access for 3,400 students and their families, at no cost.
Joe Vessey, the CEO of the Community Health Center of Snohomish County, thanked the budget-writers for including the funding on Thursday.
“By being located within the schools, students can access services and critical health education that they may not otherwise be able to,” Vessey told the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
The proposed budget earmarks $244,000 for each school.
Last year, the Legislature approved a two-year capital projects spending plan totaling $9 billion.
Of the projects awarded funds, Compass Health received $18.7 million for its Broadway Campus rebuild. The city of Everett got $7.4 million to build a new baseball field for the Everett AquaSox. The Darrington School District got $5 million for modernization projects.
In total, Snohomish County could receive $12 million in new funds under this year’s proposal. Combined with last year’s budget, the county could receive $256 million for capital projects over the 2023-2024 biennium.
Nearly half of the budget’s funding came from Climate Commitment Act revenues. Those revenues could soon be in limbo as a citizen initiative aims to repeal the law.
Other Snohomish County projects getting money under the proposed budget include:
• $1 million for restoration at Port Susan Bay;
• $600,000 for cleanup efforts in north Everett left by the Everett Smelter;
• $500,000 for Spencer Island Estuary restoration;
• $300,000 for the Community Health Center of Snohomish County to expand dental access;
• $258,000 for expansion of Mill Creek’s veteran’s monument;
• $150,000 for improvements to Arlington’s Jensen Park;
• $150,000 for the Marysville Early Learning Center; and
• $100,000 for renovations to the Stanwood Police Department.
Not everyone in the county saw what they wanted in the proposal, however.
The Sauk-Suiattle Tribe’s Chairman Nino Maltos Jr. testified before the committee to ask for money to build a community wellness center. There isn’t anything like it in the area today, he said. It would serve communities from Darrington to Concrete.
“It would serve the health and wellness needs for both the tribe and the people who live in this impoverished area,” he told the committee.
The tribe would provide the land and the labor, but asked for funding help, as it is a “small tribe with very few economic resources,” Maltos said.
Outside of Snohomish County, Seattle could see $20 million allocated in preparation for the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, where Lumen Field will host 6 games.
The House is expected to release its proposed capital budget next week. Before March 7, the two chambers must consolidate and approve a budget.
Jenelle Baumbach: 360-352-8623; jenelle.baumbach@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jenelleclar.
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