With respect to the budget agreement announced yesterday, information is
trickling out.  Here are some numbers that may be of interest:

Both the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the
Humanities will receive level funding for 1999 (i.e., neither an
increase nor a decrease).

The Office of Museum Services within IMLS receives a very small increase
(about $100,000) to cover administrative expenses.

The Informal Science Education program at the National Science
Foundation, as we reported previously, will get an increase from $36
million to $46 million.

As has happened in previous years, the Department of Education will
receive large increases in several programs of interest to museums:

The after-school program, which is just one year old, will quintuple
from $40 million to $200 million.  The first round of grants was
announced a few months ago and we have established that proposals that
included museums did well.  (The grant is to school districts, but they
are encouraged to have community partners.  We have found that one
successful model is for the museum to co-write the grant proposal.)  The
official name of this program is the 21st Century Community Learning
Centers.

Title I, which is the largest federal education program, will receive an
increase of $301 million, to a total of $7.676 billion.  This money goes
to school districts, which are free to use it in many creative ways.
For example, it can be used to pay the salary of museum educators.

The Charter School program will receive a 25% increase.

There is also $260 million for a new literacy initiative.  The director
of this program has stated that she believes that museums are among the
best places to get children excited about reading, so we will look for
opportunities for participation.

Questions welcome.

Andy Finch
AAM Government Affairs
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