Gov. Rick Perry’s signature funds the transformation of the Temple campus of the Texas A&M medical school into a four-year college, but the governor vetoed two pieces of legislation that would have brought Tar-leton State University-Cen-tral Texas closer to stand-alone status.
Also vetoed was $2 million designated for an obesity research program for the Blackland Agricultural Ex-periment Station and Scott and White.
“We lost a very important piece of our plan for higher education in Bell County,” Delisi said after learning of Perry’s vetoes.
But Delisi, R-Temple, said she remains confident that the Killeen institution will eventually become a stand-alone university in the Texas A&M system.
“Nothing is ever dead,” said the lawmaker from Temple. “Jimmie Don Aycock (a state representative from Killeen) and I will come back to fight another day. I’m convinced that when the university’s enrollment reaches 1,000 we’ll have the green light to proceed.”
One of the bills vetoed - House Bill 589 - would have changed the method of counting full-time students from a semester count to an annual count, making it easier for the university to achieve stand-alone status.
The other bill - House Bill 317 - would have reduced the number of students the school needs to issue tuition revenue bonds.
A message filed by Perry along with the veto of HB 589 reads:
“… enrollment changes expedite eligibility for independent status and greater state appropriations. The bill thwarts the Higher Education Coordinating Board’s longstanding policy of requiring 3,500 full-time students equivalents necessary to determine when and where to establish new universities. The bill leads to seriously inefficient levels of appropriations to the centers.
“My position concerning further reductions to enrollment requirements for independent status was made clear in 2005 with the signing statements to Senate Bill 296 and HB 495, in which I said it was my intention that no future deviation from the Coordinating Board standards occur.”
While he vetoed the two key bills, the governor did not stop all progress on the university project. Perry did not strike a $10 million special item supporting Tarleton State University-Central Texas. House Bill 1, which is the state’s general budget, includes $5 million in 2008 and $5 million in 2009 to fund programs at the Killeen campus.
Despite the vetoes, proponents of the Killeen university remained optimistic.
“We have the four-year medical school,” Delisi said. “Now Bell County can come together on a stand-alone university. We’re going to get this done.”
Perry vetoed 49 bills that came out of the five-month session, representing $570 million in costs he deemed unnecessary spending. Like the vetoes of the Killeen university-related bills, many of the other cuts targeted higher education and items lawmakers had advocated specifically for their communities.
Perry criticized the flurry of earmarks for colleges and universities, slashing $35.8 million for such special projects.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
