Texas Education Code - Section 61.059. Appropriations
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§ 61.059. APPROPRIATIONS. (a) To finance a system of
higher education and to secure an equitable distribution of state
funds deemed to be available for higher education, the board shall
perform the functions described in this section. Funding policies
shall:
(1) allocate resources efficiently and provide
incentives for programs of superior quality and for institutional
diversity;
(2) provide incentives for supporting the five-year
master plan developed and revised under Section 61.051; and
(3) discourage unnecessary duplication of course
offerings between institutions and unnecessary construction on any
campus.
(b) The board shall devise, establish, and periodically
review and revise formulas for the use of the governor and the
Legislative Budget Board in making appropriations recommendations
to the legislature for all institutions of higher education,
including the funding of postsecondary vocational-technical
programs. As a specific element of the periodic review, the board
shall study and recommend changes in the funding formulas based on
the role and mission statements of institutions of higher
education. In carrying out its duties under this section, the board
shall employ an ongoing process of committee review and expert
testimony and analysis.
(c) Formulas for basic funding shall reflect the role and
mission of each institution, shall emphasize funding elements that
directly support faculty, and shall reflect both fixed and variable
elements of cost.
(d) Not later than June 1 of every even-numbered calendar
year, the board shall notify the governing boards and the chief
administrative officers of the respective institutions of higher
education and university systems, the governor, and the Legislative
Budget Board of the formulas designated by the board to be used by
the institutions in making appropriation requests for the next
succeeding biennium and shall certify to the governor and the
Legislative Budget Board that each institution has prepared its
appropriation request in accordance with the designated formulas
and in accordance with the uniform system of reporting provided in
this chapter. The board shall furnish any other assistance to the
governor and the Legislative Budget Board in the development of
appropriations recommendations as either or both of them may
request. However, nothing in this chapter shall prevent or
prohibit the governor, the Legislative Budget Board, the board, or
the governing board of any institution of higher education from
requesting or recommending deviations from any applicable formula
or formulas prescribed by the board and advancing reasons and
arguments in support of them.
(e) The board shall present to the governor and to each
legislature a comprehensive summary and analysis of institutional
appropriation requests, and for that purpose each institution's
request must be submitted to the board at the same time at which the
request is submitted to the Legislative Budget Board. Nothing in
this subsection shall be construed as supplanting the duty,
responsibility, and authority of an institution of higher education
or the governing board thereof to express its appropriative needs
directly to the legislature or any committee thereof.
(f) The board shall recommend to the governor and the
Legislative Budget Board supplemental contingent appropriations to
provide for increases in enrollment at the institutions of higher
education. Contingent appropriations may be made directly to the
institutions or to the board, as the legislature may direct in each
biennial appropriations act. In the event the contingent
appropriation is made to the board, the funds shall be allocated and
distributed by the board to the institutions as it may determine,
subject only to such limitations or conditions as the legislature
may prescribe.
(g) The board shall recommend to the institutions, the
governor, and the Legislative Budget Board tuition policies for
public technical institutes, public junior colleges, public senior
colleges and universities, medical and dental units, and other
agencies of higher education and vocational and technical programs
receiving support from state funds.
(h) The board shall distribute funds appropriated to the
board for allocation for specified purposes under limitations
prescribed by law and the rules and regulations of the board in
conformity therewith, provided that no distribution or allocation
may be made to any institution of higher education which has failed
or refused to comply with any order of the board as long as that
failure or refusal continues.
(i) The board shall make continuing studies on its own
initiative, on the request of the governor or the Legislative
Budget Board, and as otherwise provided by Subsection (i-1) of the
financial needs of public higher education and all services and
activities of the institutions of higher education and issue
reports to the governor and the Legislative Budget Board that
result from its studies.
(i-1) Not later than January 1 of each odd-numbered year,
the board shall make and submit to the legislature findings and
recommendations regarding the degree to which the current higher
education funding system, including formula funding and any other
transfers of legislative appropriations to institutions of higher
education, supports the implementation of the five-year master plan
developed and revised under Section 61.051. The board may include
its findings and recommendations in the biennial report submitted
to the legislature under Section 61.051. In its findings, the board
must:
(1) identify funding incentives that would encourage
implementation of the five-year master plan by institutions of
higher education; and
(2) assess the accountability of institutions of
higher education with respect to legislative appropriations to
evaluate institutional allocation of financial resources in
accordance with the five-year master plan.
(j) Funds appropriated to the coordinating board for
vocational-technical education may be transferred by interagency
contract between the two boards as required to carry out an
effective and efficient transition of the administration of
postsecondary vocational-technical education.
(k) The legislature shall promote flexibility in the use of
funds appropriated to institutions of higher education by:
(1) appropriating base funding as a single amount that
is unrestricted to use among the various funding elements of the
formula used to determine base funding; and
(2) appropriating to institutions the unexpended
balance of appropriations made for the preceding fiscal year.
(l)(1) Except as provided by Subdivision (2), the board may
not include in any formula under this section funding based on the
number of doctoral students who have a total of 100 or more semester
credit hours of doctoral work at an institution of higher
education.
(2) Notwithstanding Subdivision (1), the board may
approve formula funding for semester credit hours in excess of 100,
not to exceed 130 total semester credit hours, for a doctoral
student if the institution:
(A) provides the board with substantial evidence
that the particular field of study in which the student is enrolled
requires a higher number of semester credit hours to maintain
nationally competitive standards;
(B) provides the board with evidence that the
student's program or research is likely to provide substantial
benefit to medical or scientific advancement and that the program
or research requires the additional semester credit hours; or
(C) provides the board with other compelling
academic reasons that support the finding of an exception.
(3) The board shall report to the Legislative Budget
Board, as part of its report on formula funding recommendations, a
listing of the exceptions approved under Subdivision (2) and the
associated costs in formula-based funding.
(m) For an institution that charges a reduced nonresident
tuition rate under Section 54.0601, the board may not include in a
formula under this section funding based on the number of
nonresident students enrolled at the institution in excess of 10
percent of the total number of students enrolled at the
institution.
Acts 1971, 62nd Leg., p. 3072, ch. 1024, art. 1, § 1, eff. Sept.
1, 1971. Amended by Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 646, § 4, eff. Aug.
26, 1985; Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 823, § 3.01, eff. June 20,
1987; Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1084, § 1.19, eff. Sept. 1,
1989; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 27, § 4, eff. April 13, 1993;
Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 451, § 7, eff. Aug. 28, 1995; Acts
1997, 75th Leg., ch. 231, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 1997,
75th Leg., ch. 690, § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 2003, 78th
Leg., ch. 820, § 13, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
Section: 61.056 61.057 61.0572 61.058 61.0581 61.0582 61.0583 61.059 61.0591 61.0594 61.0595 61.060 61.061 61.062 61.063
Last modified: August 10, 2007
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