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|79th Legislative Session
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON
Office of the President
June 3, 2005
Dear Colleagues:
The 79th Regular Session of the Texas Legislature ended on Monday. While Governor Perry has yet to sign much of the new legislation, I want to give you a brief assessment of what the results mean to UTA.
Higher Education issues during the session were overshadowed by other high-priority issues, such as public school finance, taxes, workers compensation, and adult and child protective services.
While U.T. Arlington’s overall 2006-2007 appropriation is $4.7 million more per year than last biennium (a 3.8 % increase), student population growth exceeded 7 percent over the same period. In fact, student population growth outpaced higher education funding as a statewide trend.
Additionally, the legislature adopted new formula weights for higher education funding that lowered semester credit hour funding for engineering, nursing and teacher education. This is disappointing considering UTA’s large programs in these “critical-needs” fields.
The legislature did not pass the bill to fund construction (Tuition Revenue Bonds) of new university buildings across the state, including a new Engineering Research building at UTA. Our area lawmakers worked tirelessly to pass this bill, which included full funding for our crucial building request, but extenuating circumstances sealed its fate for the regular session. Although it is too early to predict what will happen next, it is possible that the Governor will call the legislature into special session to resolve the pressing school finance issues. If that happens, university construction needs (including our Engineering Research building proposal) could be addressed.
The legislature funded its first state employee pay raise since 2001 at 4.5% for all non-higher education employees, so UTA employees are not included in this raise. However, I am pleased to announce that we will again be providing a 3% merit pool for faculty and staff this fall. It is important to note that UTA has provided raises or merit pools at an average of 3% each fiscal year for the past several years.
The state also increased longevity pay. If the budget becomes law, this WILL affect all higher education employees. Instead of receiving $20 a month for every three years of state service, all employees will now receive $20 a month for every two years. For our police officers, hazardous duty pay also increased from $7 per month for each year of service credit to $10 per month.
Students will benefit from the passage of legislation that establishes a non-voting student member of the Board of Regents. This is the realization of a long-term effort by Texas university students, and I hope one of UTA’s outstanding student leaders will have a chance to serve in this capacity.
While the results of the legislative session were mixed for us, the support we received from area lawmakers was substantial and strong. We are most appreciative of the commitment that Arlington area public officials have to UTA.
Although the regular session adjourned on Monday, we’ll be learning more about details and developments from Austin in the weeks and months ahead. We’ll keep you updated on any new developments. Meantime, please direct any questions to me at jds@uta.edu, and we’ll let you know what we know at this point.
Sincerely,
James D. Spaniolo
President
