Texas Legislature budgets $43 billion for higher education. Here's what it's going toward.

Texas state lawmakers approved a state budget in the final days of the regular legislative session that would provide billions in funding for higher education, including extra support for community colleges and university research at certain institutions.

In its current form, House Bill 1 — the proposed state budget — would allocate $42.9 billion for Texas higher education, including allocations for the University of Texas, Austin Community College and Texas State University. However, the bill bans public colleges and universities from using state money on "unconstitutional" diversity, equity and inclusion programs or practices.

The budget provides around $700 million for at-risk students at regional public universities, tuition costs for veterans, employee health insurance and other items that universities requested money for, although the funding is contingent on the institutions freezing the cost of tuition and fees for two years.

The budget is headed to Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar to confirm the budget is balanced. Then, it'll head to Gov. Greg Abbott for approval, although Abbott can cut any line items within the budget.

Here's a look at what's in the budget for higher education:

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Money for the University of Texas

The state budget provides about $858 million to UT over two years for employee salaries and wages, infrastructure support, insurance premiums, additional projects and other operating expenses. Lawmakers gave UT about $849 million during the previous regular legislative session in 2021.

Beyond the regular funds, the bill would give more than $18.5 million over two years to support a Digital Molten Salt Reactor Initiative, which was one of UT's "exceptional item" requests. The initiative seeks to design, build and establish different components of a digital molten salt reactor, which is a nuclear reactor that uses hot fluoride or chloride salt as fuel.

UT wrote in its original request for the money that $18.5 million would "kickstart proof-of-concept research and development of digital versions of every (molten salt reactor) component, and position UT Austin and its Texas partners to win a share of $100 million in annual federal funding and help Texas realize its potential as a leader in rapid deployment of reliable nuclear energy."

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The budget also allocates $3 million to UT for the Texas Heart Gallery, a program that promotes awareness around foster care, adoption recruitment and post-adoptive care, and $10 million for a Texas Gulf Coast Research Center at the UT Marine Science Institute to "increase applied research, expand its impact, and promote the gulf coast region."

According to the bill, the additional funding for the institute will be used "to support a healthy ecosystem and economy in and along the Texas Gulf Coast and Gulf of Mexico, including fish physiology and ecology, ecosystem dynamics and biogeochemistry."

Senate Bill 30, the supplemental budget, allocates $8 million for renovating UT's Texas Memorial Museum, an on-campus natural history and science museum. During the previous legislative session, state leaders cut $162,000 in state funding over two years from the museum, which is currently closed and set to reopen in fall.

Support for university research, community colleges

The state budget provides $428 million to the state's 50 public junior colleges, including Austin Community College, if HB 8, a widely supported community college finance reform bill, becomes law.

HB 8 awards money to colleges based on the number of students who earn "credentials of value"; complete at least 15 hours of courses and transfer to a four-year university; enroll in dual credit courses; or take courses that "apply toward academic or workforce program requirements."

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The state's supplemental budget allocates $3 billion from the state's general revenue fund to a newly created endowment known as the Texas University Fund, though the funding is contingent on voter approval of a constitutional amendment in November and HB 1595 becoming law.

Lawmakers created the fund to support higher education research and expand funding for universities outside the UT and Texas A&M University systems, which currently benefit from a multibillion-dollar endowment known as the Permanent University Fund.

According to the state budget, Texas State University is estimated to receive about $22.4 million from the new fund in fiscal 2024. The University of Houston would receive approximately $48.3 million, the University of North Texas would receive roughly $21.3 million, and Texas Tech University would receive about $44.4 million.

$700 million to universities for tuition, fee freeze

In December, chancellors of six university systems, including the UT and Texas State systems, sent a letter to the state's top political leaders promising to freeze tuition for two years in exchange for nearly $1 billion in additional state money for formula funding, health insurance and more.

They asked for $352 million in formula funding to support campus operations, $80 million to help at-risk students at regional public universities and $290 million to cover all employee health insurance costs. They also asked for $276 million to fully fund the costs of the Hazlewood Legacy Program, which provides free tuition to certain Texas veterans, their spouses and their children.

The approved state budget falls a few hundred million dollars short of that request by only providing about $700 million to universities for their requests. The funding was made contingent on a freeze on tuition and fees for two years as well as the Legislature's passage of SB 17, which eliminates college DEI offices, and SB 18, which makes adjustments to tenure policy.

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The legislation allocates about $263.8 million for formula funding, $18.7 million for university research, $71.5 million for regional public universities, $159.7 for employee health insurance and $184.9 for the Hazlewood Legacy Program.

Institutions must also include language on each student's tuition statement that says, "as a result of actions taken by the Texas Legislature to address affordability in higher education, all tuition and fees have been frozen effective September 1, 2023, until August 31, 2025."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas lawmakers budget $43B for higher education. What's it funding?