Budget paring may mean new math for universities

Texas Senate panel’s trim also cuts two prisons

AUSTIN — Senate budget writers, moving quickly to pare down spending to fit Texas’ revenue shortfall, tentatively agreed Wednesday to cut as much as 10 percent in state funding for special projects at some universities, close two prisons and pare down skyrocketing medical costs.

“A lot of people are going to be unhappy,” said state Sen. Larry Taylor, RFriendswood, who chaired a working group that worked on education funding. “But given the numbers we are dealing with, I think we turned out pretty well.”

Special items face cuts

Under the recommendation , approved by the Senate Finance Committee as it started shaping the final version of its budget, each state university would lose between 6 and 10 percent of its state funding for their “special items” — good news for smaller schools that had been facing cuts of up to 50 percent, but not so much for large universities that could lose millions.

By a vote of 15-0, the committee agreed to move $700 million of the $1.1 billion in the current budget and fund the “special items” generally based on the number of students enrolled at each school. Of Texas’ 38 four-year universities, and the Lamar and Texas State Technical colleges, committee members said 24 would lose 10 percent of their funding for special projects and 17 will lose 6 percent.

The rest “are somewhere in between,” said Senate Higher Education Committee Chairman Kel Seliger, RAmarillo said.

No specifics were immediately available .

While the proposed cuts are not final, university representatives who were present at the afternoon hearing expressed concern about the proposed plan. Senators said it was necessary to trim spending to meet a 3 percent drop in state revenues to fund all state programs during the next two years.

Targeted for elimination was funding for special projects at the state schools, money that is allocated outside the normal budget channels.

While most of those projects had not been funded in the Senate’s initial budget plan, universities quietly lobbied to get them restored, especially at smaller schools. Seliger suggested the projects were often slipped into the budget without close review. By contrast, the initial House budget plan included $1 billion for the special items.

While the Senate could change the plan for the special items before its budget wins final approval, several committee members suggested late Wednesday that other savings will have to be found to balance the Senate’s budget plan and, in a year when many other cuts are likely, that will be difficult.

In addition to cuts affecting the special projects, the committee also agreed Wednesday that two prisons — the privately run, 1,000-bed Barlett State Jail outside Georgetown and the state-run, 500-bed Ware Unit in Colorado City — would be shuttered. The panel also cut funding for an array of prison projects such as surveillance cameras and computer-system upgrades.

That move had been anticipated for weeks, as well as cuts in funding to Texas’ juvenile justice system that is expected to trim staffing at the Austin headquarters.

No TxDOT for train

The committee also sought to contain the rising costs of state-paid health care. It agreed to make a series of adjustments to trim costs without compromising care — ranging from changing reimbursement rates to expanding the number of prison infirmary beds to try to hold down expensive hospital visits.

The Senate panel added a provision to its proposed budget that will prohibit the Texas Department of Transportation from spending state funds to help plan, build or operate a high-speed train proposed between Houston and Dallas.

While the train’s developer, Texas Central Partners, has pledged to take no state funding to develop the project, the firm said in a statement the proposed wording was “a job killer” because it will prohibit TxDOT from essential coordination on the project.

Sen. Charles Schwertner, D-Georgetown, who authored the budget provision, said his intent was not to derail the 200-mph rail project that proponents have pledged will not seek state funding. “We should not be in the high-speed rail planning business,” he said.