SPOKANE, Wash. – Gov. Bob Furguson (D-WA) signed the state budget to a surrounding applause in Olympia Tuesday but it’s items absent that are getting attention with higher education leaders on the other side of the Cascade Mountains.
“The Team Health building was not funded at the state level,” WSU Spokane Chancellor Daryll DeWald said. “I have to figure out how to move that forward.”
The Team Health Project requested $37 million to build a new facility for the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. It’s an integrated health care model that trains doctors and nurses in a team setting; DeWald praises the education model for building more resilient health care professionals that are ready for the work force.
“This is ultimately about better health care,” DeWald said. “Candidly, the communication and the health outcomes are just better when done in teams.”
DeWald wouldn’t speculate on reasons behind the omission; however, he understands the position state budget writers are in – the state is estimated to be in debt up to $16 billion.
“We have to consider the context,” DeWald said. “WSU, even in the midst of the budget challenges, was funded at a level right below $100 million. Which, if you consider other states, that’s still pretty good.”
Sen. Marcus Riccelli (D-Spokane) sponsored a bill a decade ago to create the WSU medical school. He points out the operating funds budget is a completely separate bucket from the capital funds – meaning the massive state deficit should not impact capital requests, in theory.
“So, that is not stretched like we would think the operating budget and did not face the same kind of pressure that the operating budget faced,” Sen. Riccelli said.
Sen. Riccelli stands firmly behind the Team Health building – he advocated for the funding in Olympia throughout the legislative session.
“This is a place of where people in positions of influence on different committees and et cetera have various opinions, and we have to do a better job educating the importance of this WSU Team Health building,” Sen. Riccelli said. “See if we can change that next session.”
The state operated under a two-year budget process. Sen. Riccelli is making the Team Health building a top priority in 2026 through a supplemental appropriation.
But nothing is guaranteed.
Se. Riccelli partially attributes the problem to receive funding around communication; WSU – at one point – changed their request to $50 million for the same project.
“That wasn’t really well received with our capital budget writers,” Sen. Riccelli said.
DeWald understands that concern. However, the estimated cost of projects can – and often – does shift. In the past, WSU has changed capital requests to a lesser amount.
In the end, WSU settled for a $37 million in the final request to get the program started. The building, even if funded, would have been incomplete and need a second phase of funding and construction.
“We did the predesign process and the design process and because of a changing world, we saw there was more need for what we were proposing, and it cost more,” DeWald said. “It was done sensibly over time, and we would have been pleased to have had that funded. We would have been okay with it being funded at a lower level.”
Part of the looming issue that concerns DeWald and Sen. Riccelli the most are real world consequences. WSU’s Health Science programs focus on ‘health equity’ – getting skilled healthcare workers into underserved communities across the state.
Team Health is crucial, by both of their estimations, in making progress on that front.
“Every county in our state has a health profession shortage area.,” DeWald said. “So, we are here to help fill that need, to serve the rural in the urban undeserved.”
