SALEM (AP) - The state nursing school would expand substantially and the medical school would grow under an $87 million Oregon Health & Science University budget approved Friday by the Joint Ways and means Committee.

The funding for 2007-09 boosts state support for OHSU by 18 percent and represents the largest piece of the general fund that lawmakers have approved for any agency so far this year.

The spending plan got wide approval from the committee that writes Oregon's budget, with 16 members voting yes.

But three Republicans and the lone Independent voted no. The Republicans said they wanted $7 million more to add even more slots to the medical school and $300,000 to expand the state's dental school.

The OHSU School of Nursing will be able to train an additional 162 registered nurses per year, for a total of nearly 400. And the number of prospective doctors admitted to the medical school will climb from 108 to 120.

“The need to get more trained practitioners out into the field is a huge one,” said Rep. Susan Morgan, R-Myrtle Creek.