funding for new el paso dental school gets legislative approval

Texas lawmakers have approved up to $20 million in facilities funding for the construction of the Woody L. Hunt School of Dental Medicine.

That school will be a part of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, a project that has been in the talking and development stage for the last two years.

When the proposal was originally made, the Hunt Family Foundation announced it would pledge $25 million to the creation and building of the school. An additional $8 million was secured for the project from the Texas State Legislature last year.

The school, for the present, will be housed inside Texas Tech’s new five-story Medical Sciences Building II, with plans to become operational by the fall of 2021.

Officials say the school’s particular importance will come in providing an array of dental services to larger metro El Paso.

But Texas Tech officials hope to return to the state legislature, most likely next year, with an additional funding request that will allow for the school to eventually be able to build its own separate facility.

An attempt this year to secure some $92 million in tuition revenue bonds for that construction failed in the Senate.

The $20 million for the school just approved by the Texas legislators is part of a larger $250 million budget which is currently being reviewed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

By Garry Boulard

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