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Contact: Kim Schuette: 614.297.2314 or 800-340-6131
kschuette@ohiohistory.org
For Immediate Release June 24, 2009
Governor’s Budget Slashes Ohio Historical Society Budget $6 Million
(COLUMBUS, OHIO) - Following years of state disinvestment in history and preservation, the Governor’s proposed budget would reduce the Ohio Historical Society’s state funding $6 million from $13.5 million, where it was in fiscal year (FY) 2008-09 biennial budget, to $7.5 million.
"It’s a 45-percent cut in funding based on our actual funding in the last biennial budget," said Bill Laidlaw, OHS executive director and CEO. "The governor’s budget framework would take us back to 1986 funding levels. It’s so much worse than our worst-case scenario."
According to Laidlaw, every area of the Ohio Historical Society would be threatened if the organization’s state support is not restored to current levels. Consequences include:
- Dramatic cuts to the state’s 58 historic sites in every region of Ohio - funds necessary to maintain public access and provide basic support for local site managers.
- Successful statewide outreach initiatives, such as teacher training, support services to 800 local historical organizations, Ohio Historical Marker program, National History Day in Ohio and coordination of the Civil War 150th anniversary are in jeopardy.
- The Ohio Historic Preservation Office’s ability to obtain federal dollars
and meet review deadlines would be affected, potentially impacting the
state’s economic development.
- The programs at the National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center
in Wilberforce would be at risk.
- Programs and services at the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus would be greatly diminished.
"Cuts of this magnitude would be devastating all our programs," Laidlaw said. "We can’t continue to make across-the-board reductions anymore. We would have to restructure to become a much smaller organization. It comes to a point when less means less."
In the past decade, declining state support has forced the Ohio Historical Society has been to perform unfunded mandates. Last year’s rescissions forced the Society to abandon its entrepreneurial business model as a way to become more self reliant. Access was reduced at most sites, limiting the organization’s ability to generate private admissions, parking and store sales revenues. Staffing has been reduced from more than 483 persons in 2001 to 254 currently.
Once the FY2010-2011 state budget is signed, the Board of Trustees will vote on the Society’s FY10 budget at its next meeting, to be scheduled to mid-July. For more
information about the proposed cuts to the Ohio Historical Society budget, visit www.ohiohistory.org or www.saveohiohistory.org.
Established in 1885, the Ohio Historical Society, a nonprofit organization, serves as the state’s partner in preserving and interpreting Ohio’s history, archaeology and natural history. It provides services in nearly every community in the state. Among its many programs, the Society:
- Administers 58 historic sites and museums that welcomed over 357,000 visitors last year;
- Collects, preserves and interprets millions of historic documents, photographs and objects;
- Operates the state’s archives and a research library;
- Conducts historic preservation activities;
- Provides educational and collections resources online with more than 6.5 million visits each year to www.ohiohistory.org and other OHS Web sites;
- Reaches more than 100,000 students in the state through its educational programming;
- Presents programs and events for people of all ages;
- Provides outreach services to local historical groups throughout Ohio; and
- Publishes TIMELINE, a popular history magazine.
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