2019年10月10日

Hello,

现在,秋天是办公室cially underway, we have the opportunity to take a look back at the 86^thlegislative session, which ran from Jan. 8 – May 27, 2019. As a state-supported medical school, we rely upon funding from the Legislature to help support our missions of education, patient care, and research. Thanks to the tireless work of UTHealth leadership, especially Dr. Giuseppe Colasurdo, Kevin Dillon, Michael Tramonte, Scott Forbes, Kara Crawford, and Pam Kennedy, and the support of our elected officials, we netted a nearly $28 million increase in formula funding for the FY20-21 biennium compared to the last session and expect more than $40 million in total funding increases across the appropriations bill.

Some of the highlights:

Formula funding: Formula funding is how higher education in Texas is funded based on enrollment, among other measures. Our state funding rates increased through four existing main formulas: Instruction and Operations (per student funding), Infrastructure (predicted square feet), Research (percentage of all research funding), and Graduate Medical Education (per GME resident). The state will now provide about 2 percent more per medical student and 2.5 percent more per resident.

Research funding: Though a new state research incentive formula, we will receive about $13 million in new “Mission Specific Formula” funding. This funding is based on the incremental increase in our federal research expenditures and total federal research expenditures. The funds are to support additional research and may not exceed 5 percent of our total state general revenue (which next biennium could be up to $17 million).

Restoration of funding: We are delighted by the restoration of funding for two programs that had funding reduced in prior legislative sessions. They are the Early Childhood School Readiness Program for the Children’s Learning Institute (a total of $7 million for the biennium) and a multi-institutional research fund for the Lone Star Stroke Consortium ($4.5 million for the biennium).

Graduate Medical Education: The Legislature continued its investment in GME to maintain the 1.1 to 1 ratio of first-year resident positions to graduating students by adding $60 million to the Texas Higher Education Coordination Board’s Graduate Medical Education Expansion Grants for a total of $157 million for FY20-21. This allows McGovern to compete for grant funding to create new GME positions and continues the funding of positions we have been awarded in the past. Of note, McGovern Medical School has been one of the top recipients of this grant funding in the state.

Childhood Mental Health: The Legislature set aside $100 million from the general revenue to establish the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium. This provides a great opportunity for our faculty to establish new programs to assess and address the mental health needs of children throughout the state. Our faculty are active participants in several child-focused programs: The Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium, Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine, Child Psychiatry Access Network, Community Psychiatry Workforce Expansion, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowships.

Members of the Houston-area delegation served in prominent leadership roles this session. Six of the 10 final budget conferees were from the Houston region, chairing various committees important to UTHealth. These conferees are Senators Joan Huffman and Larry Taylor; Representatives John Zerwas, MD, Chairman; Greg Bonnen, MD; Sarah Davis; and Armando Walle.

We are very thankful to these legislators and to the other leaders who made this a successful session.

Please join me in a heartfelt thank you to the Texas State Legislature. We are always mindful of using resources wisely and being responsible stewards of state funding, working with the state for the good of all of Texas.

Warm regards,
Barbara