UH finally may get funds it deserves
It took nearly a century for the University of Houston to build a $1 billion endowment. Soon, that figure could be doubled overnight. All it will take is for voters to pass a constitutional amendment in November to establish the Texas University Fund.
The TUF won’t just benefit UH. It will include Texas Tech, University of North Texas and Texas State University. During the regular session that ended last month, the Legislature budgeted $3 billion, plus another $900 million rolled over from a previous fund, for these four schools to share as an endowment.
Voters should, of course, approve this remarkable investment in higher education, which will benefit our state’s economy and generations of Texans to come.
Why haven’t you heard more about this big, important good news? Blame the culture wars in the Legislature for drowning out discussion of less controversial higher-ed issues. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick led the Senate to pass a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs that was signed into law. The Senate’s ban on tenure, which generated heated pushback from professors, was rewritten by the House in a way that simply puts standard university policies into law.
And then there’s the noisy rancor among Republican leaders. Faced with an extraordinary gift — a $33 billion budget surplus — they squabbled like lucky princes divvying daddy’s kingdom. Their battles over school vouchers and property tax cuts have spilled into what will likely be a long series of special sessions. And looming over it all is the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose scandals are astounding even by Texas standards.
Against that dismal backdrop, it’s especially notable that the Legislature did right by UH. Not only did lawmakers set aside $3 billion for the TUF endowment, but they made a move that would feed it another $100 million every year that the state’s Rainy Day Fund investments throw off enough money.
How is it possible that a Republican-controlled Legislature is expanding funding for universities in a year when they seem intent on yanking every book but the Bible out of school libraries, and to limit what teachers can say about race and sexuality?
Football is why, or at least it’s a key factor. In 2021, when the University of Texas was invited to the Southeastern Conference, the ground shook and the air was filled with howls.
The Southeastern Conference is the closest thing to a college-level pro conference. When UT joins the SEC next year, it’ll reap millions in advertising revenues, as well as greater name recognition and more student applicants. But UT’s ascension means that the conference it’s leaving, the Big 12, will be sadly diminished. Texas Tech and other schools cried foul, and lawmakers even filed a largely symbolic bill to block UT’s move.
All that gridiron drama ripped the scab off a more fundamental inequity: Of all the public university systems in Texas, only UT and Texas A&M have access to the $30 billion endowment known as the Permanent University Fund. Those riches allow the two schools to invest heavily in the stuff that makes universities great. They can hire leading researchers, build laboratories and improve graduation rates.
During the 2022 primaries, when Gov. Greg Abbott campaigned in Lubbock, he cooled tempers and likely won votes by promising to support a $1 billion endowment for Texas Tech. The University of Houston — abandoned by the Big 12 at its inception decades ago — had been working on an endowment request as well.
By the time the budget and the enabling legislation for a new endowment were ushered through the Legislature by Houston-area Republicans Sen. Joan Huffman and Rep. Greg Bonnen, UNT and Texas State were added to the list.
As state support for UH increases, so will expectations. Though the the university’s leaders played the Capital gridiron with skill when it came to the endowment, some faculty were displeased that those same leaders didn’t mount a fiercer opposition Patrick’s attempt to ban tenure. Students should expect more as well: Following two student suicides, we are encouraged by the school’s plan to renovate Agnes Arnold Hall and expand mental health services. And we hope that now, the university will be able to pay a living wage to the adjunct professors, who do much of the actual teaching of undergraduates but earn as little as $20,000 per year.
Our expectations of the Legislature are rising, too. This excellent, potentially huge boost to Texas higher education reminds us that Texans could once boast that our Legislature generally tackled problems in a serious and bipartisan manner. Enough already with stunts like attempting to pass vouchers by holding hostage special education funds and teacher pay. And enough with public education funding that doesn’t even keep up with inflation. Could we please get back to making our state run?
Some of that, of course, is up to us voters. We urge you to kick out the Legislature’s showboats and reward those who do serious work. And also, during this year’s elections, don’t forget to work your way down the ballot to the TUF resolution and help double UH’s endowment.
Legislature’s smart move could double school’s endowment.