OLYMPIA — Just over $25 million for construction and preservation projects is headed to Snohomish County from the state’s capital budget passed Wednesday.
Lawmakers unanimously approved the $1.3 billion supplemental capital budget allocating dollars for school construction, housing and behavioral health services.
This investment supplements last year’s $9 billion budget for capital projects. Last year, the state set aside $7 million for a new baseball stadium in Everett, $18.7 million for Compass Health’s new behavioral health facility, $5 million for modernization projects in the Darrington School District and millions more for local projects.
This year, budget writers fulfilled a request from Marysville School District to provide $3.6 million through a “distressed schools” grant.
In August, the district was facing a projected $17.8 million budget deficit, but thanks to a discrepancy in its fund balance, the district reduced that projection to $5.9 million in February.
But the $3.6 million in state money won’t reduce that deficit, district spokesperson Jodi Runyon said.
The money is restricted for maintenance on its “aging buildings” and can’t be used for any other purpose, Runyon said. It will pay for upkeep on boilers, roofs, intercom systems, fire alarm panels, heating units and electrical systems.
“It is getting more and more difficult and costly to find parts to maintain aging equipment at several of the school sites, and some roofs are at the end of their life,” she wrote in an email.
The Community Health Center of Snohomish County will receive the $488,000 it requested to open two new health centers for students in Everett and Cascade high schools.
In the county, almost 40% of 12th graders reported having not seen a doctor for a checkup in more than a year, according to the state’s Healthy Youth Survey. And nearly 30% hadn’t visited a dentist in more than a year.
At no cost, these health centers provide dental, physical and behavioral health services to students. They can also connect students to resources for housing, food, clothing and other essential needs.
The centers in Cascade and Everett high schools will be the third and fourth in the county. Meadowdale High School opened the first in-school clinic in the county in 2022. Mountlake Terrace High School just opened its walk-in clinic in January.
Here are more projects funded by the state in this year’s capital budget:
• $2.8 million for the Latino Educational Training Institute’s Incubator for Family Success in Everett;
• $1.9 million to expand behavioral health services at Holman Recovery Center in Arlington;
• $1 million for estuary preservation at Port Susan Bay;
• $500,000 for estuary preservation at Spencer Island;
• $400,000 for expansion of the Lynnwood Convention Center;
• $309,000 for a riverfront sports and recreation facility in Marysville; and
• $100,000 for renovations to Stanwood’s police station.
Based on original proposals from the House and Senate, lawmakers slashed just over $300,000 for Snohomish County projects while finalizing the budget.
Projects that missed out on funding in the final budget include:
• Preserving state owned public art at Meadowdale High School in Lynnwood ($42,000);
• Improvements to Arlington’s Jensen Park ($150,000); and
• Expanding the Marysville Early Learning Center ($150,000).
Runyon said the proposed money for the early learning center would have added an extra portable classroom to provide inclusion programs at the center.
The inclusion programs are mandated by the federal government, but currently unfunded.
“We bear the majority of costs for typical peers to join special education students in an inclusive environment, a model we believe benefits all children,” Runyon said.
Even as the district missed out on the funding, Runyon said school leaders will continue to try offsetting the costs of the program through “creative solutions.”
The capital budget now heads to Gov. Jay Inslee’s desk for final approval.
A full list of capital projects across the state can be found at fiscal.wa.gov.
Jenelle Baumbach: 360-352-8623; jenelle.baumbach@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jenelleclar.
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