Budget promotes greater research
Negotiators for Senate, House agree to plan to boost universities.
When Gov. Greg Abbott was campaigning to become the state’s chief executive, he said Texas ought to have five universities among the top 10 in future rankings of public schools by U.S. News & World Report magazine.
That is a generational chal lenge, not one that can be achieved in a single state legislative session, or even in a few.
The state’s flagships — the University of Texas and Texas A&M University — don’t rank among the top 10, and the eight so-called emerging research universities are at least 10 or 20 years from national prominence, much less elite status.
But with the proposed state
budget for the next two years coming into sharper focus, it appears that officials are poised to begin taking baby steps toward boosting the research portfolios and the academic stature of some of Texas’ 38 public universities — and, by extension, the state’s economy.
Although the House and Senate have yet to vote on a final budget for the 2016-17 biennium, their negotiators have agreed on several research-oriented elements that could boost funding for the state’s main programs in that area by about $188 million, or 70 percent, based on figures provided by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Experts say it would take hundreds of millions more to make significant improvement in the rankings.
Separately, the Legislature moved one step closer Thursday toward authorizing about $3 billion in bonds for university construction and renovation projects — some of which would benefit research programs — as the House named negotiators to resolve differences with the Senate.
“Gov. Abbott is pleased with the progress of his higher education initiatives and remains focused on working with legislators and educators to elevate our higher education system,” said Cait Meisenheimer, a spokeswoman for Abbott. “Through proposals like the governor’s university research initiative, Gov. Abbott has made it a priority to recruit nationally recognized researchers to Texas universities with the ultimate goal of creating jobs and more opportunity for all Texans.”
The Governor’s University Research Fund, a new account proposed by Abbott, would get $40 million to parcel out to universities — which would have to put up matching funds — to recruit Nobel laureates and members of the National Academy of Sciences or its sister organizations in engineering and medicine. Hiring such academic rock stars often requires setting up a laboratory to the tune of $1 million, $2 million or even more.
The negotiators have also earmarked $138.1 million for the Texas Research Incentive Program, which would go a long way toward eliminating a $150 million backlog of matching funds earned by the emerging research schools by virtue of private donations they have raised for professorships, equipment and other research enhancements. The Legislature established the incentive program in 2009 but has failed to fully fund it.
State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, said she is encouraged by the budget’s approach to university research, including provisions that would restructure a hodge-podge of overlapping funds into a more streamlined setup with one major ac- count benefiting the two flagships, another for the emerging schools and a third for the rest.
“However, if we truly want to create more tierone institutions — and we’ve said repeatedly that we do — we would have to invest significantly more funds in research to secure that status,” Howard said. “What’s in the budget is good, but not anywhere near what we need.”
One possible sticking point in the negotiations on the budget and related legislation involves the dismantling of the Emerging Technology Fund, from which the $40 million for the Governor’s University Research Fund would be drawn. Abbott called for killing the technology fund, a favorite project of the previous governor, Rick Perry, after a critical audit and high-profile bankruptcies of some startups it helped.
Rep. Angie Chen Button, a Republican from Richardson who has authored legislation to wind down the technology fund, said it’s crucial to retain a provision that would establish an oversight committee for certain funds housed in the governor’s office, the comptroller’s office and the agriculture commissioner’s office.
“Our responsibility is to reform the process to regain trust from the great people of Texas,” she said.