State officials asked TWU to trim its budget by 3%, which could affect the Jane Nelson Institute

The Texas Woman’s University government relations team told the Board of Regents that, in planning upcoming budget appropriations requests ahead of the 90th Texas Legislature in January, top elected officials advised administrators to shave a little from the bottom line.

Kevin Cruser, TWU’s vice chancellor of government relations, said Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows advised leaders to reduce their budget by 3%.

“The governor, the speaker and the lieutenant governor all came together to request that we put a proposed 3% cut to our budget,” Cruser said during the university regents’ meeting earlier this month. “This is not a sky-is-falling moment.”

Cruser explained that the proposed 3% cut wouldn’t apply to TWU’s formula funding. Formula funding refers to money provided by state appropriations for colleges and universities that is based on measurable student outcomes and data.

“So these are the things like the Jane Nelson Institute [for Women’s Leadership], and our institutional enhancement dollars,” Cruser said. “Very important things. But it doesn’t affect the instruction and operational budget, or the academic operations of the campus.”

Cruser said he thinks Abbott, Burrows and Patrick requested TWU reduce the budget out of caution.

“They’re doing this to be cautious because of some of the warning signs in the overall economy,” Cruser said. “But as of now — knock on wood — hopefully that 3% cut will not come to fruition. It is our number one budget priority as we enter the legislative session, that that 3% be restored. That’s our first priority before anything else.”

Jane Nelson, for whom the institute is named, didn’t respond to a request for comment by Tuesday evening. Nelson stepped down as Texas’ secretary of state in July. She served two terms on the State Board of Education and represented Denton County in the Texas Senate for 30 years.

There’s no indication from lawmakers that a 3% cut would position the Jane Nelson Institute for defunding. The institute was started with state funding that has increased over several sessions. The institute’s initiatives have incubated small businesses started by women, and the institute prioritizes training and preparing women to run for public office. Lawmakers are increasingly raising expectations of Texas university systems to prepare students to graduate into careers that pay well, and instill civic participation as a Texas value.

Cruser referred to the last few months as “the summer of legislative love,” because state lawmakers have requested rafts of information and feedback from the university.

“I’ve put more people on this campus through the wringer in the last month and a half — due to legislative requests for information — than ever before,” Cruser said.

Cruser said legislators asked for “all kinds of information,” and that the Senate Higher Education Committee specifically asked for information about Senate Bills 2972 and 37. SB 2972 restricts “expressive activities” and protests on Texas public college and university campuses. Senate Bill 37 mandates formal curriculum, program and certificate reviews and revised the role, structure and operations of faculty senates.

Between the state Senate and House committees on higher education, Cruser said TWU had responded with more than 70 pages answering inquiries.

Cruser said the university’s budget includes requests for resources from the Texas Healthcare Workforce Fund, additional funding for the newly approved engineering program, and a one-time funding request for additional planes for the university’s flight program.

TWU has largely escaped the painful cuts suffered by the University of North Texas, and TWU has exceeded its goal of $125 million in fundraising during the present 125th anniversary year.

But several of Texas’ public university systems have responded to heightened interest and hostility from Texas Republican legislators, who have increasingly intervened in administration and curriculum, rooting out what they have said are inappropriate and left-wing ideas around race, gender and human sexuality.

Texas Woman’s has proved to be a tougher target, in spite of the university’s stated purpose: “Educate a woman, empower the world.” It’s the newest university system in Texas, and its academic programs feed some of Texas’ most high-need industries, such as nursing and healthcare, and more recently aviation.

Its work has attracted historic private donations in the last serval years, signaling private buy-in to TWU’s public mission.