MCALLEN, RGV – State senators look set to take up their version of the state budget on Tuesday and, as things stand, it looks very bleak for UT-Rio Grande Valley’s School of Medicine.

UTRGV asked for $60 million for the School of Medicine for the next biennium, which is the amount the school received during the last legislative session. The Senate budget provides $25 million.

UTRGV Vice President Veronica Gonzales is monitoring the budget process closely. Gonzales, a former state legislator, is drafting an op-ed to be signed by county judges and business leaders that will urge state leaders to provide adequate funding for the School of Medicine.

“State funding is critical to UTRGV’s School of Medicine as it ramps up its operations, just as it is for every new medical school,” Gonzales told the Rio Grande Guardian.

“Funding is necessary to recruit experienced faculty that can teach both medical students and medical residents, to recruit researchers, to get the clinical practice up and running and for many other purposes.”

Gonzales said UTRGV fully understands that this is a “lean year” for the legislature. However, she notes that “the amount being proposed in the Senate for our medical school reduces funding by almost two-thirds from what was received last session.”

Gonzales said at that level of funding, the School of Medicine would:

• Require cancellation of four new residency programs (20 new first year resident slots)

• Likely raise accreditation concerns from the LCME due to insufficient funding.

• Require closure of 2-3 existing GME programs (overall 33 percent reduction).

• Decrease research support by 85 percent, severely restricting the ability to support research needed for accreditation of educational programs.

• Decrease clinical recruitment and business development by 33 percent, impeding the school’s ability to decrease dependence on state funding and to recruit needed subspecialists to the Valley.

“We are grateful for the tireless advocacy by our Valley delegation and their staff as well as the support of our community and we remain optimistic that as the process moves forward, the funding will increase significantly,” Gonzales added.

At a recent McAllen Economic Development Corporation board meeting, McAllen Mayor Jim Darling urged McAllen leaders to write urgently to state senators.

“It is serious. We need to support UTRGV, we need to fight for the medical school. We need to help our guys in Austin fight for the money. It is a long process and there is still time. Get on the phone and let them know we support our university,” Darling said.

Another elected official in the Rio Grande Valley who did not want to be publicly identified, said: “Under the Senate version of the budget, the UTRGV medical school is being cut drastically and unfairly in comparison to other universities.” The elected official said state Sens. Juan Hinojosa and Eddie Lucio are fighting hard to get more funding than the Senate budget provides.

How did it come to this? The Republicans run the Senate and, according to Rio Grande Guardian sources, some of them have taken note of the fact that Hidalgo County voters have twice voted “no” to the creation of a healthcare district that would have provided some local funding for the UTRGV School of Medicine. The question is thus being asked in Austin, does the Valley really want a medical school?

Under the Senate budget, special line items were phased out and funding was allocated instead through formulas which created winners and losers. The aim was that no medical school would lose more than ten percent or less than six percent. UTRGV lost ten percent in Special Item funding. “This is tough to absorb given UTRGV’s already low tuition,” said a person close to the budget writing process. “Our (UTRGV) medical school wasn’t part of that equation and took a much more drastic cut.”

The Senate’s UTRGV medical school budget is set at $25.9 million if one includes formula funding and proceeds from a tobacco lawsuit settlement. Thus far, the House budget has UTRGV SOM funding set at $70.6 million. Of this, $55.2 million is Special Item funding plus some other line items. “The Senate budget is way too low and while we don’t expect that will be our final number, if it were, we’d have to cut existing residency programs, cancel new programs, decrease our clinical recruitment and much more,” said a person close to the budget writing process.

The House and Senate are approaching the budgets very differently. The Senate wants to add $2.5 billion to their budget by delaying a transfer from General Revenue to the State Highway Fund. There are questions, though, whether this is constitutional. The House wants to tap the “Rainy Day” Fund, which is expected to reach $12 billion by the end of the fiscal year. The Senate does not want to tap the “Rainy Day” fund.

Editor’s Note: We will add the comments of state Sens. Juan Hinojosa and Eddie Lucio, Jr., as soon as they become available.