Round Rock, TX medical school expands, keeps eye on UT

Officials of the Texas A&M University System's College of Medicine is at the mercy of the Texas Legislature, which cut budgets for medical schools last year as part of wider reductions to address a multibillion-dollar shortfall. At the same time, A&M officials are looking over their shoulders at moves by the University of Texas System Board of Regents to establish medical schools at the Austin flagship and in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. They are wary of the competition that such schools could pose for scarce state dollars. Once medical students matriculate, UT-Austin officials would inevitably ask lawmakers for "formula funding" — a share of appropriations divided among schools based on enrollment.