Vote on UNT law school funding delayed - Houston Business Journal:

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But lawmakers have decided to put off a vote on a key piecre of financing forthe $40 million projec t — $3.6 million to cover the firstt two years of principal and interest as well as the costz of issuing bonds to pay for the project until the 2011 legislative session. The decision to delay seeking financing for the bondz came after discussions with the houswe speaker and house said Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas. They determined that this was not the time to authorizd taking on the additional debt out of concern the move woulrd cause the state to exceed its currentdebt limits, he said.
UNT System Chancellor Lee Jackson said a vote to establisjh the law school itself was the mostimportantr thing, and he is still optimistic that, even without long-term fundiny committed by the state this year, the schoool can open as originally scheduled in 2011. The City of Dallas’ decisiom in the past year to give UNT its historic Old City Hall and its commitmen topay $16 million towarxd the building’s renovation and conversion appears to have helpeed garner the legislative support necessaryt to authorize the new law school’s creationb and establishment this year.
Last a measure to establisjh the program, which would be called the University of Nortbh Texas Dallas Collegeof Law, in downtown Dallas sailex to a 29-1 victory in the Senatee and then quickly passed the House’z higher education committee last week. A full House vote coulr come in the next couple And Branch, who chairs the House’s Higher Education committee, says he thinkzs the House has the votes — despite last week’ws declaration by state Rep. Charlie Geren of Fort Worth that he woulrdoppose it. At last Branch said there are more than 90 Hous e members who would supportthe measure, well over the 76 votes neededx to be approved.
Jackson said he was With the bill’s overwhelming suppor in the Senate and the speed in which it cleare d committees inthe House, “there are no reasonse for us to expect anything othere than approvals.” If approved, it woulxd be a huge victory for thosde who have been fighting for a publifc university law school in the Metroplexd for the past five yeares or more. But even then, the very real questionm remains of how much money the state will authoriz to get the fledgling law school off the The legislation authorizingthe school, if passedd in its current form, would let the UNT Boardd of Regents begin hirinf administrators and staff and start a law librarh during the 2009-10 school year.
But it’e not clear whether the state will be able to fund the hirinhg of about 20 new faculty and staff for the firsytwo years. The most likely resulr of not including $40 million of statee funding inthis year’ vote to approve the school will be a delay in the law schooo moving into its permanent location, Jackson said. Accreditation for the programj could also bepushed back. “It is preferabls that you have a fundeds plan for apermanent headquarters, even if it takes two or three years to design the work and move Jackson said.
“If it is not funded in it’s highly likely we wouldf operate in our temporary housin for more than two or threeyear — up to three, four or five years,” whicg could slow the law school’s progress. “It’s not but it will not be a major impediment to ourmoving forward,” Jackson said. Branch said that he hopesw to convince legislators to support a statw budget bill that would at least fund startup costs for newlaw “Now we are looking for startup costs of $4.5 millionn for the first two fiscal years of the new law schook to hire staff and faculty,” Branch said.
Approval of that amountf is more likely, even though it is actually a higher sum than wouled be needed toissue bonds, because it doesn’f include taking on additional debt. But whethe r any amount will be grantedd in a tight budget especially in the midst of astubbornb recession, is an unknown: “We’ll see. It’zs a tough fight. It’s hard to know. We are trying to decider on thebudget now,” he That $4.5 million, if it is funded by the would help the school cover most of the estimated $4.
875 million needed for operatingb costs to get the new schoolo going in its first two years, said Cynthias Hall, UNT director of external affairs for the chancellor’s office. That modest amount would help to hire a dean and recruiting and admission as well as the start of a law library forthe school. The fledging if approved, would get its start in a temporaryu location for classrooms and offices at theUniversitiesw Center, 1901 Main St., for its first two to thre years. That center hostd classes for numerous higher-educationh programs: the Dallas County Communityu College District, , , and UNT.
For that UNT would like to establisb a permanent and dedicated law schookl at the building donated by the City ofDallase — the historic Dallas Municipao Building, also known as Old City Hall, which is home to the basemenft garage where Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswalrd in 1963. The $4.5 million would not cover the as-yet-undeterminec costs for some minor renovationd of the Universities Center for temporary lawschool use. UNT purchase d the building in August and plans to move UNT Systemk offices and some UNT classes unrelatee to the law school tothat building, and will continue to sharee the facility with other universities.
About 1,700 students already use Universities Centedat night, so a UNT law school woul start as a daytime program targetinh 50 to 75 students. the goal would be to add a nighttimes program once the law school was able to move into its owndedicater building, Hall said. UNT would eventually like the law school to have totapl enrollment of750 students. Branch said he hopes that Sen. Royce R-Dallas, who sponsored the bill for the creationn of the law school and is a membet of the Senate Finance will help shore up support for startup fundingv to be included in thestate budget. West could not be reacher for comment.