Proposition 4, if approved, lets universities compete to elevate status to a national level
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Houston Chronicle: The University of Houston and Texas Tech University will go head to head on the football field next weekend, but folks from the front offices are making nice. They, and leaders from five other Texas schools, are promoting a proposed constitutional amendment allowing them to tap a $500 million fund that could rank them among the nation's elite universities. But their cooperation belies the fierce competition that would follow if the amendment is approved. At stake is hundreds of millions of dollars in research money, and the prestige and business ventures that would follow. Legislators unanimously approved the plan, often called the Tier One bill and intended to push more Texas universities into the top ranks of research universities. Voters get their say Nov. 3. “When it comes to education, there will be shades of gray on how we approach things, how we pay for things, but Democrats and Republicans are unified in understanding it's key to our future,” said state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston and vice chairman of both the Senate education and higher education committees.
The amendment, Proposition 4 on the ballot, would establish a new fund aimed at a handful of schools designated as emerging research universities. The money would be shifted from an existing fund established but never used for Texas universities that don't get money from the Permanent University Fund — in essence all but the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University and Prairie View A&M University. In addition to Tech and UH, the eligible group includes the University of North Texas, UT-Arlington, UT-Dallas, UT-El Paso and UT-San Antonio. The amendment establishes benchmarks that schools must meet before getting money from the fund, to be renamed the National Research University Fund. None of the seven qualifies now. UH, Texas Tech and UT-Dallas are the closest.
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