The state of Texas has ended this legislative session with a $33-billion surplus, according to lawmakers who say there’s no reason for Texas Governor Greg Abbott not to funnel some of that money toward Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Following a demand letter calling on Abbott to address the disparity in HBCUs funding, Texas State Democratic leaders and legal advocates recently gathered to reiterate the call and discuss the historical inequalities in these institutions of higher learning.
“We had a $33 billion surplus. Yet, we willfully underfunded our state HBCUs, which provide opportunities for students of color to be the first in their families to go to college. That means there is less access to resources for professors, research, and infrastructure,” said State Rep. Ron Reynolds, who heads the Texas Legislative Black Caucus.
The three public HBCUs in Texas – Prairie View A&M University, St. Phillip’s College and Texas Southern University, have lagged in funding compared to the state’s Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). While HBCUs represent 3% of postsecondary institutions, they enroll about 10% of all Black college students, according to the HBCU PARTNERS Act.
“Prairie View A&M University, which is the 1890 land-grant institution in the state, has not been able to advance in ways that are on par with Texas A&M University College Station, in large part due to this unbalanced funding,” Reynolds said. “In the last 30 years alone, an additional $1,135,496,704 would have been available for the university if their state funding per student were equal to that of the state’s 1862 institutions. These funds could have supported infrastructure and student services and better positioned the university to compete for research grants.”
The demand letter was filed to “rectify the years of disparate funding and set the course for a more equitable process of higher-learning institutional funding for generations to come,” according to TLBC. “We call on Governor Abbott and his administration to do what’s right and correct this historical wrong.”
