Like his budget or hate it, give Gov. Timothy M. Kaine credit for one thing: It’s nearly pork free. As Tyler Whitley notes in the Times-Dispatch today, the budget the Governor proposes for FY 2009-2010 includes only $5,755,000 for museums, cultural institutions and other non-state entities — down from $37 million in the current two-year budget.
In a $78 billion budget, the dollars aren’t large, but the symbolism is important: State government should focus with unrelenting clarity on its core missions. For the most part, museums, ballets, theaters, opera and the like serve the regions of which they are a part and should rely upon community support.
State funding should be limited exclusively to educational outreach programs in which museums enrich school curricula on such topics as science, natural history and the arts — and I’m willing to wager that’s exactly what the $5.8 million in Kaine’s budget is reserved for.
(Photo credit of the Virginia Marine Science Museum: Destination 360.)