[SOA] Ohio Historical Society Budget Update

[Angela O'Neal]

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The Ohio House of Representatives missed an opportunity to make improvements to the Ohio Historical Society budget when it voted on the $52 billion state budget Tuesday. Instead of boosting funding for OHS operations, the Ohio House reduced the amount that Governor Strickland had proposed for Ohio Historical Society operations, leaving the vast majority of our operations at level funding. The House reductions were taken from the Society's 60 historic sites and museums. These cutbacks follow several years of state budget reductions or funding well below inflation, severely reducing the Society's purchasing power.

The revised House budget left numerous funding challenges and opportunities unmet. Some of these missed opportunities include:

? The State Archives remains the poorest funded, least accessible and has the lowest staffing level in the nation.
? The Ohio Historic Preservation Office (OHPO) funding still falls well short of the state's 40 percent match needed to fund the OHPO.
? The establishment of a competitive matching grants program for local history-related organizations remains unfunded.
? There are no planning funds for the state's Civil War Sesquicentennial.
? Funding for the state's historic sites, vital to promoting Ohio's heritage tourism, remain insufficient (and were actually reduced).
? Investments in history education programs and history collections are inadequate.


Now the budget is in the hands of your state senator. Please join with us to ensure that the Ohio Senate does not lose this opportunity to make much-needed improvements to the Ohio Historical Society budget. By clicking here <http://capwiz.com/ohiohistory/utr/1/AMBPHBTAPL/HCZHHCEUXD/1173983661> , you can find your state senator and send him or her an e-mail message about the Ohio Historical Society budget. But that might not be enough!

The state budget is very tight and additional funding is hard to come by. A personal phone call or handwritten note could make a very big difference to your state senator. Click here <http://capwiz.com/ohiohistory/utr/1/AMBPHBTAPL/DRFCHCEUXE/1173983661>  to get a listing. Please call or write your senator today. Thank you for your kind consideration and support of the Ohio Historical Society!

Sincerely,

Dr. William K. Laidlaw, Jr.
Executive Director


 

 	
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