From the Texas Tribune: South Texas Leaders Keep Pushing for Medical School

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/us/south-texas-leaders-keep-pushing-for-medical-school.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

South Texas Leaders Keep Pushing for Medical School

By EMILY RAMSHAW

Published: November 24, 2012

With the wheels greased in Austin, Dr. Cigarroa said, he is even more confident that the Valley will get its medical school.

“This only gives me more resolve to get the South Texas school of medicine accomplished,” he said. “We’ve set the pathway for Austin. I’m not giving myself an ‘A’ on my report card unless I get this done.”

But his commitment is just one piece of the South Texas puzzle. And what has worked in Austin — substantial public-private investment, financing set aside by the State Constitution for flagship institutions, and a voter-approved 5-cent property tax increase — is not necessarily a fit in the Rio Grande Valley.

South Texas leaders must persuade hospitals to finance 120 residency slots, get local voters in the impoverished region to sign off on a taxing district, and — the toughest but most critical selling point — ask the cash-strapped Texas Legislature to provide $20 million a year.