Yesterday the House passed a 2015-17 budget. Amendments increased NGFS+ spending over that approved by the House appropriations committee by $2.6 million, to $38.962 billion.

Of the $2.6 million increase, $1.0 million is for project-based math and science. (According to the fiscal.wa.gov description: “Funding is provided for the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to contract with a non-profit organization to integrate science standards with outdoor field studies and project-based and work-based learning opportunities aligned with the environmental, natural resource and agricultural sectors.”)

HB 2224, the separate bill that contains the tax increases assumed by the budget, has not yet been acted on.

Meanwhile, the Senate also debated the 2015-17 budget yesterday. It was not smooth sailing, as Rachel La Corte reports:

The Senate worked into the early morning hours Friday debating dozens of amendments to a Republican-crafted budget bill, but a final vote on the plan won’t happen until after the weekend, at the earliest.

After more than nine hours of debate, Senate Republicans were blocked from moving forward immediately because minority Democrats wouldn’t allow them to bypass a procedural rule that requires additional time before a bill can be voted on.