State May Relinquish Control Of Some Museums

Museums are just one of the many facets of our culture that we love to share with visitors and hometown folks too. Many museums rely on state support or funding to maintain their operation.

The state's current budget crisis has put many of our state's museums in a rather dicey situation. Many will have to reduce hours or close completely if there is no solution to the stat'e budget crisis or if local stewardship cannot be found.

Louisiana's Secretary of State Tom Schedler suggested to the Louisiana Radio Network that his budget for operating state run museums has been slashed.

Right now my budget for museums is cut some 52% under the proposed scenario.

What that means in tangible terms is that Secretary Schedler has just enough money in his budget to operate the Old State Capitol Museum. Unfortunately he has seven or eight other museums that need funding too.

The state has already turned four museums over to local governments but that is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other properties that need funding just to keep the doors open.

If I don’t have enough money to run the remaining 7 or 8 that I have, I’m going to have to make some hard decisions to reduce hours or close some.

Schedler says that in the past the state has always been able to find the money to keep these institutions open. He doesn't see such a rosy outlook for this particular budget scenario.

The objective is not to close them, to try to find local solutions to the issue to retain the museum to the local community.

Schedler suggested that even operating the museums on a partial schedule is better than closing them all together.