The Texas Senate passed a bill that would allocate billions of dollars of funding to higher education public research universities. 

The Texas University Fund (TUF) will create an endowment for four of Texas’ public research universities. Senate Bill 19 says that universities are eligible based on a set of criteria that revolves around research.

Universities that are eligible must be “designated as an emerging research university under the coordinating board’s accountability system” and have “spent on average at least $20 million in federal and private research funds per state fiscal year during the preceding three state fiscal years,” according to the bill’s text.

There are currently four institutions that are eligible to receive funding from the endowment as currently constructed. Texas Tech, the University of Houston, the University of North Texas, and Texas State University all qualify to receive funding, but other institutions would be able to receive funding if they meet the criteria in the future.

Harrison Keller, the Texas commissioner of higher education, called the endowment a substantial investment that will help smaller schools become more competitive.

“This conversation about equity in funding and boosting emerging research universities has been going on for over a decade among policy makers,” said Keller, per Inside Higher Ed. “TUF is the most substantial investment in a lasting structure that other campuses can use to be more competitive.”

There were two major factors that contributed to the development of TUF. The first major contributor was the decision by The University of Texas at Austin to leave the Big 12 Conference for the Southeastern Conference. 

Keller says the decision by UT likely impacted the timing of the TUF bill.

“It was certainly not a coincidence,” said Keller about the timing of the TUF bill, per Inside Higher Ed. “Remember, in Texas we organize our universities largely on the basis of historical football rivalries.”

The second major factor regarding the TUF bill was a large budget surplus for the state. Kelly Damphousse, the president of Texas State University, said the surplus came at a great time, and the right decision was made with the funds.

“It’s just perfect timing: the state budget is overflowing, the machine of the state economy is humming,” said Damphousse, per Inside Higher Ed. “They could have given that surplus money to any number of other parties that were asking for it, but we’re grateful they recognized the impact it could have at our universities.”

The bill would result in roughly $240 million being distributed to the institutions over the span of two years. The bill has already passed through both bodies of the Texas Legislature, and the constitutional amendment will be voted on by Texas voters on November 7.