AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Currently, there are five established public pharmacy schools, one private institution, and one additional public pharmacy school expected to admit its first students in 2013. The number of seats available for students in Texas totals 802, while the total number of applicants may be as high as 3,390. There is a steady demand for pharmacists that is not being met.
S.B. 566 creates a self-supporting pharmacy school at The University of Texas at Tyler (UT-Tyler). The pharmacy would be based on a model created by East Tennessee State University that was established in 2005. It would be supported by donations and tuition and would require no state appropriations for operation. The school's goal is to admit their first class in 2015.
The pharmacy would offer a standard doctor of pharmacy degree as well as a nuclear pharmacy specialization. There are only five colleges of pharmacy and five certificate programs nationwide that provide the required curriculum to obtain the nuclear pharmacy specialization, none of which are in Texas. This would allow a pharmacy school at UT-Tyler to fulfill a growing need for nuclear pharmacy specialists.
As proposed, S.B. 566 amends current law relating to the establishment of a pharmacy school at The University of Texas at Tyler.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 76, Education Code, by adding Section 76.026, as follows:
Sec. 76.026. PHARMACY SCHOOL. (a) Authorizes the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System (board) to establish and maintain a school of pharmacy as a professional school of the institution (The University of Texas at Tyler).
(b) Authorizes the board to prescribe courses leading to customary degrees offered at other leading American schools of pharmacy, and authorizes the board to award those degrees.
(c) Requires the board to provide for the operations and capital expenses of the school to be supported by tuition, gifts, grants, and other institutional or system funds available for that purpose, except that the school is not eligible for funding under the formulas established under Section 61.059 (Appropriations) for instruction, operations, or infrastructure.
SECTION 2. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2013.