Dr. Darrel Kirch, president and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), talks with UTRGV School of Medicine students during a luncheon last July at the Medical Education Building in Edinburg. Courtesy Photo by Paul Chouy
The opening of the UTRGV School of Medicine last summer came with much fanfare. Less than a year later, the Texas Legislature is voting on a budget that will either provide enough funding for the startup or cut funds by $35 million.
State policymakers are required to produce and operate on a balanced budget, and the House and Senate are almost $45 million apart on the amount of funding the School of Medicine will receive over the next two years.
UTRGV President Guy Bailey said the university is hopeful the 2018-2019 state budget will provide enough funding for the School of Medicine to operate.
“It’s crucial; the operation of the medical school depends on state funding,” Bailey said. “Without adequate state funding, we couldn’t operate. The House version of the budget includes adequate funding. The Senate version of the budget is more problematic. There’s a long way to go in the legislative session and we’re hopeful that something closer to the House version will emerge.”
The Texas Senate approved a budget March 28 that provides the UTRGV School of Medicine $25 million, $35 million less than the $60 million the university received last session and asked for again this year.
The Texas House of Representatives’ version of the budget, which was scheduled to be voted on Thursday night and today, provides the School of Medicine with $70.6 million, which includes Special Item funding at $55.2 million, and other money coming from formula funding, which is based on a head count for each student at the university.
Veronica Gonzales, UTRGV vice president for Governmental and Community Relations, spent eight years representing District 41 (McAllen and parts of Mission, Edinburg and Alton) in the Texas House of Representatives. Gonzales’ familiarity with the state’s process provides UTRGV with knowledge of dealing with different budgets every two years.
“It’s a very stressful time because each session is different than the one prior,” she said. “This year, unfortunately, happens to be a very lean year and that’s for several reasons: oil prices were down, $5 billion was directed for [the] highway fund and some taxes were lowered prior, so all of that resulted in less money being available for the budget. You deal with what you have during that budget year because Texas has to produce a balanced budget every session.”
After the House votes, each chamber will appoint five members to a conference committee that will work together to produce a budget to be voted on that resolves the differences between the two versions of the bill.
If the bill is passed in both houses by May 29, when the legislative session ends, it will be sent to the comptroller for certification, and finally to the governor for signing.
“The Senate and the House understand that for UTRGV [School of Medicine] to continue strong operations, it’s going to require much more than $25 million,” Gonzales said. “We’re very optimistic, cautiously optimistic, that we’re going to get closer to the numbers that the House has.
“The reason it’s important for us is because we are a startup. We aren’t asking for anything that medical schools in the past haven’t asked for. Schools in general, all the public schools across Texas, are seeing cuts at this point. It’s concerning because higher education is the key to a successful future, so if we want that for our students, the state has to fund us adequately.”
