Like a vision determined to become reality, Valley state lawmakers will once again push for legislation to create a University of Texas Law School in South Texas, and Rep.-elect Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, says he will support that effort.

Currently, the closest law schools to the Rio Grande Valley are in San Antonio, Austin, and Houston.

“First and foremost, a law school is about empowering a region with the tools and knowledge to seek and obtain legal and social justice,” Canales said.

According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which is a state agency with great influence over public higher education in the Lone Star State, the cost, over five years, of beginning a brand new law school is $80.4 million.

In October 2010, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, under orders from the Texas Legislature, issued a 46-page analysis, entitled The Feasibility of Establishing a Public Law School in Texas, Including the Texas-Mexico Border Region.

Originally posted in the Valley Voice.