NC House Budget Veto Override; What it Means for the Arts

NC House Budget Veto Override; What it Means for the Arts

As many of you know, the NC House of Representatives voted to override Governor Roy Cooper’s veto of the state budget. With just over half of the 120 House Members in attendance, the override passed 55-9 along party lines. The vote was called when many Democrats were not in the House Chamber, as they were under the impression that there was not to be a vote called at the early morning session on September 11th. Now the bill moves to the Senate, where Republicans only need one Democrat to break ranks to override the veto, or for Senate Pro Tempore Phil Berger to call the vote when enough Democrats are not present, just as Speaker Tim Moore did in the NC House. So if it passes the NC Senate, what does that mean for the arts?

1. The NC Arts High School Graduation Requirement would become law. After nearly two decades of work toward this goal, NC students would need one arts credit between 6th and 12th grade in order to graduate from high school. This would not only improve the education of millions of NC students, but it would also help secure funding for arts education programs and arts educator salaries.
    
2. Funding for Grassroots Arts Program Grants would increase. These grants, which support the arts in all 100 counties, would increase in non-recurring funds by $500,000 (18%) in FY2020 and $850,000 (30%) in FY2021. This is a big step to achieving our $1 for the ARTS goal for these Grassroots Grants, BUT…
    
3. New Grassroots Arts Program Funding would NOT go to 10 counties. The current budget still contains language that would restrict additional funding from distribution to 10 counties based on their high level of economic performance and larger populations. HOWEVER,
    
4. Arts North Carolina would NOT STOP FIGHTING. Arts NC staff and lobbyists are still working with the NC General Assembly to remove this damaging language in the budget through a technical corrections bill (which always follows a passed budget and makes many “tweaks”) if/when the current budget becomes law. This restriction is an affront to the equitable distribution of resources we have worked for decades to promote and defend, and would disenfranchise nearly 40% of all North Carolinians from these funds. Grassroots grants have enjoyed statewide support because of their equitable distribution of funding and accountability. If the funding is no longer equitable, it may lose that support, which would harm the program for the entire state.
    
5. $4.5 Million in Line Item “Earmarks” would be funded. The current version of the state budget provides over $4.5 million in earmarks to arts organization. It is worth noting that some of these earmarks are for capital projects, though many were not labeled as such in the state budget. As there is no current state funding program for capital projects, Arts NC has no issue with these capital appropriations. However, the NC Arts Council does administer state funded grants for administration and programming and these earmarks for operations expenses have no oversight, are not equitable, and require minimal accountability. As such, Arts NC does not advocate for or support this type of line item funding allocations in the NC State Budget.
    

Arts North Carolina will continue to monitor this situation and work for equitable public funding for nonprofit arts organizations and policies that support comprehensive arts education. We will alert you if we feel that a unified call to action would be advantageous in the coming days and weeks. However, it is never the wrong time to talk to your elected representatives about the value of the arts in our state, equitable public funding, or universal access to the arts.