Olympia— Education construction in Washington got a big boost in May when Gov. Christine Gregoire signed a $3.3-billion state construction budget that will help to pay for hundreds of public school and college projects over the next two years.

The budget doubles the amount of state matching funds for locally approved school construction and repair projects to $617 million. It also allots $890 million for construction on virtually every state higher education campus, including $461 million for 64 community college projects, $261 million for the University of Washington and Washington State University, and $168 million for the other four-year universities.

Among the other projects funded in the budget is a new state prison in Franklin County.