Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Kirk Watson has proposed a panel to set a flagship list.

Despite growing discussion about the need for additional public flagship universities in Texas, the prospects for underwriting an effort to lift one or more schools to that level are dim because of what is expected to be a tight state budget, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee said Wednesday.

"It's going to be a pretty thin budget. I don't think we're going to have a lot of new money to spread around," Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa , said at a briefing for journalists sponsored by The Associated Press.

Higher education leaders and some lawmakers have expressed a desire to expand the number of flagships, also known as top-tier or tier-one universities. Texas has three such institutions: the University of Texas and Texas A&M University, which are public; and Rice University, which is private.

California, by contrast, has nine schools in the big leagues. New York has seven, and Pennsylvania has four. Such institutions, with stout research programs, are engines for economic and intellectual advancement.

Chisum, who acknowledged that he is probably a lame duck as appropriations chairman because of his support for Speaker Tom Craddick's unsuccessful bid to remain in that post, predicted that higher education wouldn't see much more money in the two-year budget lawmakers must craft in the legislative session that begins Tuesday. The Legislature will be lucky to come up with 5 percent more for the overall state budget, he said.

At least two measures in the hopper seek to expand the roster of top-tier schools. Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, has filed a proposal to create a commission charged with recommending which universities should become flagships. Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, wants to channel additional funding to prospective flagships.

The potential contenders are UT-Dallas, UT-Arlington, UT-San Antonio, UT-El Paso, Texas Tech University, the University of Houston and the University of North Texas.

Mike Morrissey , a senior adviser to Gov. Rick Perry who participated in Wednesday's briefing, said it would be premature to discuss the question until the governor's office releases a proposed state budget in advance of Perry's state of the state address. A spokeswoman for the governor said that address is expected to be delivered late this month or early next month. The governor's office has said previously that Perry favors establishing more tier-one universities.

Rep. Geanie Morrison, R-Victoria, and Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, said the issue would be debated by lawmakers but that funding is uncertain. They agreed that local communities would need to come up with money for scholarships, research and other purposes if they hope to help raise up their institutions.

UT-Austin President William Powers Jr. said any campaign to establish more flagships would require a sustained financial and political commitment on the part of state and local leaders, along with a culture of academic excellence on the campuses in question. Moreover, he said, the state's two public flagships need greater financial support, noting that their state funding runs about $5,000 a year per student, behind that of other major research universities.