| EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR'S ADVOCACY UPDATE
September 2008
ADDITIONAL FUNDING CUTS TO THE ARTS & ARTS
EDUCATION:
Due to the slowing economy and significantly reduced state
revenues, the State Budget and Control Board ordered
on August 12th, a 3% cut to all state
agencies or $188 million, and included trimming approximately
$73.3 million from the State Department of Education (SDE). These
budget cuts were in addition to the average 3 % -5% reduction
that state agencies received during the legislative session
that ended in June for the current year (FY 08-09).
The South Carolina Arts Commission has absorbed
the 2.69% budget cut for FY 08-09, however this latest
additional 3% cut will impact grantees as a 3% reduction
in their grant contracts, as well as in other
agency programs and administrative areas. In
anticipation of any further mid-year cuts, the Commission
will retain an additional 7% of total grant rewards to
help absorb these reductions. If there are no further
mid-year cuts, the remaining grant funds will be released
later in the fiscal year through the normal
grant process.
BACKGROUND: STATE ARTS FUNDING: BUDGET
PROCESS AND OUTCOME – 2008 LEGISLATIVE SESSION:
- The South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC)
turned in their budget requests to the Governor in early
fall (see full budget request on page 6 of this update).
- In early January, the Governor presented
his budget, which cut the SCAC’s base budget by
23.3%.
- The SCAC made their budget presentation to a House
Ways & Means Subcommittee, adjusting their request
to $585,000 for their granting program, and does the
same to a subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee.
- S.C. House version of state budget
cut the SCAC by 2.69% -- a loss of last year’s
one-time funding of $585,000 becomes a threat to grantees – a
30% cut;
- S.C. Senate Finance Committee – added
$585,000 in one-time funds to Arts Commission’s
budget for its granting program including arts education
initiatives and general operating support to arts organizations. The
$585,000 survived an emergency budget meeting, called
when faced with a $90 million reduction in state revenues
and where additional reductions were made to state agencies. Budget
Debate began on Senate Floor, Tuesday, April 15.
- The Budget Bill passed the evening
of April 16th, and included the $585,000 in one-time
funds.
- The Arts Curricula Grants within the State
Department of Education’s (SDE) budget were cut
by $93,027 (from $1,597,584) as part
of an across the board 5.823% cut from Education Improvement
Act (EIA) funds taken by the Senate Finance Committee
as they addressed the $30 million shortfall of EIA
funding.
- The budget went back to the House so
that they could deal with reducing their version of the
budget in order to address the $90 million shortfall. Their
version of the budget did not include the $585,000 in
grants money within the Arts Commission’s budget. However,
the House did agree on the same cuts as the Senate with
regards to the EIA funds within the SDE’s budget.
- In late May, a Conference Committee worked
out the differences between the House and Senate version
of the Budget Bill. The $585,000 in one
time funds to the Arts Commission’s granting program
remained in the budget bill, while the agency also received
a 2.69% cut to its base budget. Unfortunately,
there was no discussion regarding the cuts to the Arts
Curricula Grants funding within the SDE’s budget
as both the House and Senate had agreed to the same funding
reductions.
- The Governor did not include the $585,000
for the Arts Commission in his list of vetoes, so that
funding remained safe.
SOUTH CAROLINA ARTS ALLIANCE’S
LEGISLATIVE ISSUES & PRIORITIES:
Supporting S.C. Arts Commission’s Budget Requests: A
three to five year long- range goal for key investments
in:
- Arts Education - $600,000 in permanent
funds;
- Creative, Competitive Communities -
$720,000 in permanent funds and $2,220,000 in one-time
funds;
- Small Business Development in the Creative
Sector - $250,000 in permanent funds and $1,225,000
in one-time funds
SCAA’s POSITION ON ADVANCING “LEARNING IN
AND THROUGH THE ARTS” FOR ALL STUDENTS THROUGH:
- S.C. Department of Education Funding – Protecting
and increasing Arts Curricula Grants
- Standards – supporting the “Elements
of a Quality Visual & Performing Arts Programs”
- Legislation – Promoting learning “in
and through the arts” within legislation for
School Choice, Charter Schools, Virtual School and 4-K
Development Programs;
- Instructional Time – Preserving
arts instructional time in our classrooms
WHAT’S IMPACTING ARTS EDUCATION NOW:
The House Ways & Means Education Finance Act
Study Committee is meeting every two weeks throughout
the summer and fall to develop a new formula for funding
education, is expected to make recommendations to Speaker
of the House, Bobby Harrell, by November. The Arts
Alliance is monitoring these meetings and those of the
Joint Senate Education Funding Study Committee, in order
to stay informed, especially with regards to arts education
funding, such as the Arts Curricula Grants. Both “flexible
funding” at the district or school and “backpacking” – where
the funding follows the student – pose a threat
to arts education funding.
STILL HAVING THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON SCHOOL FUNDING
Property Tax Relief Act of 2006 (ACT 388): Dramatically
changed the funding structure for schools by eliminating
owner-occupied local property taxes that pay for
school district operations and swapping it with a new one-cent
statewide sales tax that is deposited into the Homestead
Exemption Fund (HEF). The HEF grows annually on a
formula that includes the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and
population growth statewide. The State distributes funds
from the HEF to school districts using a formula that includes
the amount they received the prior year, the district’s
weighted pupil units (WPU’s) and poverty weightings.
The tax revenues fluctuate with the economy and spending,
and are problematic with caps from local revenues. Fast-growing
school districts are concerned that the annual growth rate
will not be enough to pay for large one-time expenses such
as opening new schools or starting new programs.
ARTS & EDUCATION LEGISLATION OF INTEREST:
Education Accountability Act (EAA) H.4662 – Sponsored
by Rep. Bob Walker (Spartanburg), the EAA replaces the
PACT test (used since 1999) with the Elementary & Middle
School Assessment Program (EMSAP) -- now
known as “PASS” – Palmetto Assessment
of State Standards. This is a new end-of-year
accountability test for third through eighth graders that
features essay exams in March and multiple-choice exams
in May. Schools will get final results within a few
weeks of the May testing compared to late July with the
PACT. The new test is supposed to:
- Eliminate burdensome paperwork requirements for teachers,
deletes the requirement for lengthy academic plans for
students who score in the bottom tier;
- Streamline the information in the annual school and
district report cards from 8 to 2 pages each while making
it more understandable and useful for parents;
- Making sure that any revisions are in full compliance
with the federal “No Child Left Behind Act”;
- The report cards include language that authorizes districts
to use special diagnostic tests in English language arts
and mathematics incrementally during the year, to provide
teachers with immediate feedback on students’ strengths
and weaknesses.
- Changes the current “student performance indicators” of “advanced,
proficient, basic and below basic” to “exemplary,
met” and “not met” – putting
South Carolina’s student performing targets into
alignment with other states;
- Establishes a formal, five-year review of the state’s
school reform system to ensure it is effective and efficient
Recess Bill - S596 – Sponsored
by Senator Dave Thomas (Greenville) Mandating at least
20 minutes of unstructured recess during the school day
for students in kindergarten through 5th grade, with the
child choosing the activity to participate in during that
period. [Many arts advocates saw this as a threat
to arts instructional time. The bill was tabled in
March.]
S.C. Public School Choice Program – H4391 – Sponsored
by Rep. Ted Pitts (Lexington), includes Arts Programs within
choice schools; Bill supported by State Superintendent
Jim Rex. [The Bill was sent back to Committee.]
FEDERAL ARTS ISSUES & CONGRESS NOW:
Congress returned from its
August recess for its final Congressional action session
of the 100th Congress. It
is slated to adjourn again on September 26th so they
can head back to their districts before the election. The
House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by
Congressman Norm Dicks (D-WA), has set the initial
funding level for the National Endowment for the Arts
(NEA) at $160 million – an increase of $15.3 million. Prior
to the August recess, action bogged down because of efforts
to add controversial language regarding expansion of
oil drilling to the Interior Bill. Now the priority
is negotiating a financial bailout. It is most
likely that other appropriation spending bills will be
wrapped up in a “continuing resolution” that
would fund all federal programs (including the NEA) at
their current level. The same is expected of the Senate. Tax
issues are not expected to come to the House floor before
the recess, however the Senate might pass abbreviated
tax legislation that includes the IRA Rollover. The
Artist Deduction Bill has reached its highest number
of co-sponsors (108 in the House and 30 in the Senate). This
should help with passage of the bill in the next Congressional
session.
OTHER NATIONAL NEWS:
- Dana Gioia has announced that he will
step down from his Presidential appointed position as Chair
of the National Endowment for the Arts in January. He
has accepted the half-time position as director of the
Harmon/Eisner Program in the Arts at the Aspen Institute,
and will continue his work as a writer.
- Americans for the Arts’ Action Fund has
released its 2008 Congressional Arts Report Card that
indicates that there is bipartisan support for the
arts among the House and Senate leadership. The
Congressional Arts Caucus has grown to 178 members – 23
Republicans and 155 Democrats. The newer Senate
Cultural Caucus includes 21 Democrats, 11 Republicans
and one Independent. Members of both parties
have joined together to defeat weakening amendments
and funding cuts. The grading system is based
on major House floor votes on arts funding, membership
in the Congressional Arts Caucus, introduction or co-sponsorship
of arts-related legislation and signatures on “Dear
Colleague” letters to the Appropriations Committee
asking it to increase funding for the NEA or for arts
education. To check out the Congressional Report
on your South Carolina Congressional delegation and
others, go to: http://www.artsactionfund.org/stay_informed/special_reports/002.asp
- Americans for the Arts Action Fund had a presence
at both the Democratic and Republic National Conventions
by hosting a panel on the arts and arts education and
a reception at each. The Democratic
National Convention (DNC) panel discussion was moderated
by former S. C. Governor and U.S. Secretary of Education,
Dick Riley. The moderator for the Republican
National Convention (RNC) was former Arkansas Governor
Mike Huckabee. The events were very well attended.
- Americans for the Arts worked to include arts
statements in the platforms of the DNC and RNC. The
DNC did include a mention of the arts in their platform. The
Republican platform did not contain the arts. You
can find the Democratic statement on page 49 in their
platform at: http://www.democrats.org/page/-pdf/dem-platform.pdf
- AFTA is collecting emergency
relief funds for Texas and Louisiana --
to assist local arts service organizations located
or serving those areas. To contribute, please
go to their web site: www.americansforthearts.org
- October is National Arts & Humanities
Month: for
a planning toolkit, promotional web stickers, or to get
on their national calendar of events, go to their web
site at: www.americansforthearts.org/NAHM
National Arts Advocacy Day activities will
be on March 30-31 in Washington DC. Please
contact Betty Plumb if you would like to be part of
the South Carolina team.
ADVOCATES SUPPORT FEDERAL LEGISLATION IMPACTING
THE ARTS:
- Support an increase from $144.7 million o $176 million
for the National Endowment for the Arts (40%
goes to each state arts agency - $678,000 goes to the
SCAC)
- Support an increase to the arts education programs
within the USDE, from $37.5 million to $53
million;
- Support the Artist-Museum Partnership Act (a.k.a. Artist
Deduction Bill) – allows artist to take
a tax deduction for the full value of donated works
(S.546 or HR 1524);
- Support efforts to reinstate “IRA Rollover” provisions
allowing tax-free distributions to charity from individual
retirement - IRA accounts and lowering the age from 70+
to 59.
- Support an increase in funding for the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting - asking $483 million;
- Support additional funding for International
Cultural Exchange Programs through the US
State Department;
- Support the “Arts Require Timely Service
(ARTS) Bill, [HR 1312] - legislation ensuring
timely processing of visa petitions for foreign guest
artist – this actually passed the
House on Arts Advocacy Day.
WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW?
MARK YOUR CALENDAR: FEBRUARY 10,
2009
SOUTH CAROLINA ARTS ADVOCACY DAY
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