EDINBURG — The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine is set to receive at least $55.3 million in state funding under an agreement reached in the early morning hours on Sunday between House and Senate conferees in charge of negotiating a two year state spending plan.
EDINBURG — The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine is set to receive at least $55.3 million in state funding under an agreement reached in the early morning hours on Sunday between House and Senate conferees in charge of negotiating a two year state spending plan.
Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa confirmed Monday that the conferees— five senators, including himself, and five House representatives— voted Sunday at around 1:30 a.m. on a compromise between the House and Senate budgets putting the new school of medicine less than $15 million away from its original petition of $70 million.
The proposed Senate budget had the school initially funded at just under $25 million, while the House budget was funding it at about $55.
“It took us all session long to keep on increasing it,” Hinojosa said. “The biggest challenge was the method of financing. What source of revenue do we use to finance the budget?”
As far as the university as a whole, the numbers are still not ready to be disclosed, he said, adding the budget is currently being reviewed even though it’s been agreed upon.
Funding for UTRGV in general could change depending on special item funding, which will change this year for all higher education institutions. Funding for the school of medicine is not likely to change, and if it did, Hinojosa said it would only go up.
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