Texas Tech regents go from 'pause' to 'stay tuned' on proposed Amarillo vet school

If the message from the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents in February was “Pause” on the initiative to bring a school of veterinary medicine to Amarillo, it is now, “Stay tuned.”

Despite a multimillion-dollar financial commitment from the Texas Legislature this spring to explore creating a vet school, Tech’s regents have no official opinion on the proposal, board Chairman Rick Francis told A-J Media on Thursday as the regents met in Lubbock.

Instead, he said, what could be the second vet school in the state is one of many options the university system believes could have a positive impact on the state.

“We have a number of priorities that we’re looking at for the communities that are part of the Texas Tech system,” Francis said. “There might be two or three projects that we have to judge, and until we have all the data, we don’t know how to prioritize.”

But he said Tech leaders were excited to get a $4.17 million allocation from state lawmakers in May that will be used to complete a comprehensive study and to evaluate the feasibility of having a school of veterinary medicine in Amarillo.

“It’s in our strategic plan going forward,” Francis said of the vet school. “We’ll be gathering data and looking at a business model and the impact on the Amarillo community and the Texas Tech system, of offering those educational opportunities. And so, stay tuned. But we are absolutely going to pursue it.”

A meeting of the regents’ Academic, Clinical and Student Affairs Committee on Thursday included a proposal to add two items to a list of the strategic priorities for the Tech system. The full board will reconvene Friday to consider the addition.

Chancellor Robert Duncan said one of the new items is a collaborative initiative among the Tech system institutions to evaluate a multi-disciplinary center of excellence supporting mental health education, research, policy and patient care. The other new item is the school of veterinary medicine.

According to a draft document given to all regents during the committee meeting Thursday, Tech will use the legislative funds to evaluate the financial and academic feasibility of a vet school in Amarillo. Collaboratively working with the Tech Health Sciences Center, the planning initiative “will examine appropriate models for veterinary medical education to address industry, regulatory and public needs along with the academic and financial requirements to establish an accredited professional program.”

Findings and proposals will be shared in a comprehensive report to the board of regents, according to the draft document on the strategic priorities.

Francis said the board voted in February to pause the process of asking the state Legislature for funding of a vet school because it wanted to send a message to the lawmakers that Tech is a good steward of money.

“We looked at what our components were telling us were their top priorities, and that was to preserve the special line items in their budgets. And so, we took that vote so that we were sending a message to Austin,” Francis said. “We did that respectfully, because it was such a tough budget year.”

Francis said it could help if Texas Tech finds more funding for the project.

The Amarillo Economic Development Corp. offered a $15 million incentive to Tech if construction on a vet school begins by September 2018 and if Tech pays at least $50 million in payroll and benefits to employees.

Francis said that is a great start. He pointed out what Amarillo did for the pharmacy school there, what Abilene did for a school of public health and what El Paso has done in terms of raising $30 million to bring a dental school there.

“So it’s a start, but we’ll evaluate. What are the operating costs? How many students does it impact? What local resources can we leverage? And then we’ll go back to the state. And the state will be looking at those same things when they decide whether they’re going to fund this, as we do,” Francis said.

Asked to elaborate on a possible need for even more resources from Amarillo, Francis said, “I can’t speak to that. Generally speaking, the more money you have, the more positive impact you’ll have when you’re walking the halls of the Legislature, and telling them, ‘If you’ll give X, the community of Amarillo is going to leverage that.’ So it’s a good use of state resources. You can tell a better story. But without the study, I can’t tell you how much is needed at this point.”

The regents will meet Friday morning for a vote on the additions to the strategic priorities, as well as other items approved in committees on Thursday.