TAMPA The movement to build the University of South Florida's next medical school inside Jeff Vinik's downtown redevelopment project has scored two wins at home.

Now it needs to win on the road.

USF's proposal needs $62million in state funding. That must be approved by the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the State University System.

The board is set to hold two votes on the proposal when it meets today and Thursday at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

If the idea wins both votes this week, then it will move up the chain of command to the Florida Legislature for final approval. The 2015 session is set to start on March 3.

"Until the votes have been cast," said Mayor Bob Buckhorn, "I never take anything for granted."

The project was endorsed in October by a committee of USF trustees that oversees the university's medical operations. Buckhorn helped pitch the idea.

Then in December, Vinik himself appeared before the full board of trustees when it gave its approval.

Buckhorn, Vinik, USF president Judy Genshaft and Dr. Charles Lockwood, the dean of USF's medical school, will all be on hand today in case the governors' facilities committee needs convincing as well.

That committee considers all the state's higher education capital projects like USF's urban medical school and the University of Central Florida's proposed downtown Orlando campus.

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More big votes on tap for USF's downtown medical school proposal