Conference panel OKs $25 million hike to UT budget,

Conference panel adds $25M in total for 2018 and 2019.

The University of Texas at Austin, whose budget seemed to be on the chopping block a few weeks ago, instead would see a 3 percent increase in legislative appropriations under the two-year state spending plan approved by a House-Senate conference committee.

Senate Bill 1, which the two chambers will consider this weekend, would provide a total of $835.6 million to the flagship campus for the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years. That’s about $25 million, or 3 percent, more than it received for the 2016-17 biennium.

Included in the proposed outlay is about $12 million for UT’s Dell Medical School, which is what the House-approved budget recommended; the Senate version had not earmarked any money for that school.

Overall, the Senate’s version would have cut the university’s funding by about $48 million, while the House version would have lopped off about $10 million.

“We’re very pleased that the Legislature in a very difficult session has continued to show support for higher education in Texas,” said Will O’Hara, interim co-executive director of the Ex-Students’ Association of the University of Texas, also known as the Texas Exes.

However, the left-leaning Center for Public Policy Priorities said overall higher education funding was “the bare minimum.”

One category of UT-Austin’s funding — so-called special items — would be reduced by about 30 percent under the conference committee’s budget. That category includes modest initiatives such as an oral history project as well as major projects like the McDonald Observatory in West Texas and the Marine Science Institute on the Gulf Coast.

The proposed outlay for UT-Austin represents about 15 percent of the school’s total budget, according to SB 1. Other sources include donations, endowment proceeds, federal research grants and tuition. Other SB 1 highlights: ■ Texas A&M University’s funding would rise by $13 million, or 1.6 percent, to $842.1 million for the biennium.

■ The Texas Grant program, the state’s main instrument of student financial aid, would get $71 million more for a total of $786 million — enough to fund 92 percent of eligible students, according to Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound.

■ A special House-Senate committee would examine the Legislature’s approach to higher education funding and make recommendations no later than April 15 of next year.