The planned construction of a new dental school in El Paso has taken a significant step forward with a vote by the Texas State Legislature appropriating funds for the project.
Lawmakers have given the green light to spending $59.9 million for the construction of a dental school that will belong to the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso.
The funding is coming through tuition revenues bonds, which are issued by institutions of higher learning in Texas and annually supported via tuition revenue at those schools.
The legislation, SB 52, was signed into law by Texas Governor George Abbott on October 25.
The new dental at Texas Tech will house both a learning center as well as a clinic and will also offer both primary and pediatric care.
In a statement, Richard Lange, president of Texas Tech at El Paso, noted the ongoing need for advanced dental care that will be provided by the center, remarking that “many people with dental issues also have health issues.”
Being able to treat all such issues in a single location, continued Lange, “makes it convenient for the patients, but more importantly, it coordinates care.”
The new center will be a part of the university’s Wood L. Hunt School of Dental Medicine, which was opened last year.
That school is the first and only one of its kind on the U.S./Mexico border.
Altogether, Texas Tech this month received just over $72 million in state funding for a variety of facilities construction and upgrade projects at its main Lubbock campus, as well as its locations in the cities of Junction and Midland.
By Garry Boulard
