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GREENSBORO — The state budget for the coming fiscal year is not yet official, but lawmakers are sure it won’t include a new engineering building for N.C. A&T.

Legislators have excluded from the budget money for a $104 million engineering center at the university, as well as one at N.C. State.

Both buildings were part of a higher education bond package that Senate leaders proposed in May.

“We didn’t feel it was right to do anything new in capital (spending),” House Speaker Joe Hackney said Monday.

A&T leaders said they have not given up hope of getting the building some time in the near future.

“It still is going to be our number one capital project for next year,” Alton Thompson, A&T’s interim provost, said Tuesday.

Legislators are expected to conclude final voting on the budget today and then forward it to Gov. Bev Perdue for her signature.

State Sen. Don Vaughan said he was disappointed that A&T would not get the funds for the engineering school, which he called a worthy program.

“It would be a tremendous asset for Greensboro as well as North Carolina A&T State University,” Vaughan, a Greensboro Democrat, said Tuesday. “It’s just the tough budget situation that we’re in in Raleigh.”

The College of Engineering at N.C. A&T operates out of multiple buildings on campus, with McNair Hall as its primary facility. With a new building, university leaders wanted to accommodate growth in its programs and sponsored research.

A&T is the lead university in the Engineering Research Center, which will focus on biomedical research and the development of new materials for biomedical applications. The center is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, and A&T is partnering with the University of Cincinnati and the University of Pittsburgh.

The new engineering building received local support. Vaughan and state Sen. Katie Dorsett, a Greensboro Democrat, were in favor of the new facility, as was the Greensboro Partnership, the city’s economic and community development organization.

The organization’s president, Pat Danahy, told a Senate finance committee earlier this month that expansion of A&T’s engineering program could help attract businesses to the region.

“Hopefully, it’ll be considered during the next (General Assembly) session,” Vaughan said of funding for the building.

While awaiting funds for a new facility, the university will move forward with the expansion of its engineering programs, Thompson said.

A&T plans to offer bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in bioengineering, Thompson said, and will need a new facility to support those programs and their corresponding research.

Despite the loss of funding for a new building, Thompson said he is grateful for lawmakers’ show of confidence in the engineering school through a $1 million appropriation that will be used to hire new faculty members and support existing ones, as well as benefit research.

Staff Writer Mark Binker contributed to this report.

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 373-7080 or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com