In what some are describing as Community Colleges of Spokanes best legislative session in decades, the college district received design money this year that sets in motion projects that could total roughly $100 million here.


The Washington Legislature also boosted enrollment projections at the community college system here in its recently completed session and granted pay raises to the systems faculty and staff, says Gary Livingston, chancellor and CEO of the district, which operates Spokane Community College, Spokane Falls Community College, and the Institute for Extended Learning.


Livingston says the Legislature was more generous than usual to the college district partly because it was working with a budget surplus in devising its next biennial budget, but also, he believes, because legislators see the importance of investing in education to ensure a strong economy in the future.


This was one of the best biennial budgets for higher education (in Washington) in decades, if not ever, he says.


Washington state funds both operational budgets and capital construction budgets for public colleges.


p align=center>Capital budget


On the capital side, the states 34 community colleges compete heavily for limited funding earmarked for junior colleges, Livingston says. For the next biennium, Community Colleges of Spokane (CCS) secured $9.8 million for architectural design work. While thats not a lot of money to get from a capital budget, it sets in motion the likely construction of five projects, together worth roughly $100 million, in the next biennium.


These capital projects were prioritized through a highly competitive process based on state need, and theyre not going to spend that much money on architecture and not build the buildings, says Livingston. I would be very, very surprised if they werent funded next biennium.


About $1 million of the design money will be tapped for design work on a $1.9 million renovation, to begin in the current biennium, of part of the building that houses the Washington State University Intercollegiate College of Nursing, near the SFCC campus. That structure, called the Magnuson Building, will become available for CCSs use once the nursing school moves to its new building in the Riverpoint Higher Education Park in the fall of 2008. About a quarter of the Magnuson Building will be remodeled, and that space will be used to house several programs from the three CCS colleges, including Institute of Extended Learning administrative offices. Construction dollars for the renovation, which CCS will have to match, were included in the biennial capital budget crafted this session, says Greg Plummer, the districts director of facilities.


The design money CCS received this biennium will be used for three proposed projects on the SFCC campus, in northwest Spokane, and two on the SCC campus, in East Spokane.


The largest of the SFCC projects would be a three-story, 70,000-square-foot science building that would cost an estimated $29.8 million to build. It would replace a 39,000-square-foot science building there, and that structure would be removed to make way for a 51,000-square-foot classroom building that would be built in another of the SFCC projects.


In that project, SFCC would erect two buildings, at a total cost of $21.9 million. One would be the three-story classroom building, which would include space for more faculty offices and also a tutorial center. The other building would be a single-story, 16,000-square-foot early education center.


The third project at SFCC would be a $13.9 million renovation and expansion of the campuss two-story, about 26,000-square-foot music building. The structure would be expanded to include a total of about 48,000 square feet of space, and would have improved music-related teaching space and more faculty offices, the district says.


On the SCC campus, the biggest project would be construction of a $32.9 million, 70,000-square-foot technical education building, which would replace the square footage in the 43,000-square-foot west wing of the campuss Main building, which is along Mission Avenue. The west wing of the main building would be razed to provide better access into the campus and help facilitate the future replacement of the center portion of the U-shaped Main building.


The new structure, that would replace the lost square footage in the west wing, would have three levels and would house manufacturing and construction-trade classes, the district says. It would be located near the northeast corner of campus, east of Rebecca Street and about 200 feet south of the Spokane River, cater-cornered away from the west wing on the campus, Plummer says.


The other big project proposed on the SCC campus is a $10 million remodel of the former science building there. After its renovation, the two story, 31,500-square-foot building would house radiology technology classes, biomedical equipment classes, physical education classes, the campus wellness center, and the campus computer-services center, says CCS spokeswoman Anne Tucker. SCCs science programs were moved to a new building last summer.


Operations


The Legislature also boosted the community college districts operational budget, providing about $1.2 million in added funding for the biennium for about 180 additional student slots there.


The state typically funds about 60 percent of the cost of instruction at the college district here, while the remaining funds are generated through student tuition, says Livingston. The colleges receive between $5,000 and $9,800 per student, depending on the type of program in which a student is enrolled, Livingston says.


A significant portion of that new funding likely will be spent to support programs offered by the Institute of Extended Learning, which offers credit and noncredit classes at more than 100 sites in a six-county area. Those classes commonly are held at churches, community centers, and schools.


Livingston says another increase in operational funding here came from a 3.7 percent pay hike approved for faculty and a companion 3.2 percent pay hike approved for other staff.


Also, CCS received $60,000 to spend on new equipment, which is funding it typically doesnt get in addition to its operating and capital budgets, Livingston says. He adds that although the amount isnt much money, it gives CCS officials hope that more such funding will come in the future.


In the five years Ive been here, this is the first money weve ever received to purchase equipment, Livingston says.


Livingston says CCS served about 45,000 full- and part-time students last year.


Contact Rocky Wilson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at rockyw@spokanejournal.com.