Four Texas universities could see a big windfall if voters approve of a proposed higher education endowment of $3.9 billion in taxpayer money.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation in June that would set up the Texas University Fund to “support general academic teaching institutions in achieving national prominence as major research universities and driving the state economy.”
However, voters will have to weigh in on a constitutional amendment required to authorize the allocation before it can be officially chartered.
The beneficiaries of the potential fund, pending voters’ approval, would be Texas Tech University, the University of North Texas, Texas State University, and the University of Houston.
The fund’s establishment would mark the first time universities outside the University of Texas and Texas A&M Systems secured a permanent stream of state taxpayer money.
“I think the political authorities of the state, including Abbott … have understood that a state our size with our kinds of resources needs to have better universities, more highly ranked competitive discovery engines,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, speaking with the Houston Chronicle.
QS World University Rankings recently published its latest list of top universities around the world, and the University of Texas at Austin was the only Texas university to crack the top 100, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
“The intent is to make these universities more competitive, strong and vital, especially in areas that will be important for regional and state economic development,” said Texas Commissioner of Higher Education Harrison Keller, speaking about the proposed fund back in April, Inside Higher Ed reported.
Critics of some of the other higher education reforms that the Texas Legislature and Abbott implemented this year — curtailing tenure and proscribing “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies — claimed that quality faculty members would be difficult to attract.
“They’re just not going to come if they’re not assured tenure when they come,” said Texas A&M business professor Adam Kolasinski, per KXAN.
If established, the new Texas University Fund could offer a counterweight to such arguments.
“I really feel like higher education has been and is at a crossroads with public perception,” said Christine Hall, program coordinator of Texas Christian University’s master of education program in higher education leadership, speaking with the Houston Chronicle. “A move like this shows that for Texas, higher education is a public good.”
