Jim Tobal and Donna Holdorf were enthusiastic about introducing local history into public schools, and they thought they had the perfect vehicle: the National Road, the brainchild of Albert Gallatin with help from President Thomas Jefferson. Tobal, a retired history teacher and member of the Laurel Highlands school board, and Holdorf were finalizing a National Road-Route 40 study guide, the product of workshops held last summer with teachers from Somerset, Fayette and Westmoreland counties. They hoped to introduce the subject into classrooms in September, Tobal said.
That was before Gov. Rendell eliminated funding for Holdorf's agency, National Road Heritage Corridor, in his proposed 2009-10 budget.
"I'm a big believer in local history," Tobal said. "It's history that touches students where they live. This (funding cut) jeopardizes a really excellent program. We were just about to print the study guide."
No money, no study guide, no local history lesson.
With the state hemorrhaging red ink because of the recession, the governor slashed funding for the group and 11 similar organizations, including the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor, with headquarters in Ligonier, and the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, stationed in Homestead.
The 12 make up Pennsylvania's Heritage Areas, designations that date to 1989 and the Bob Casey administration. Embraced by both the Ridge and Schweiker administrations, the 12 now face extinction, with potentially serious consequences for a host of projects and nonprofits they have benefited.
At stake is a savings of $1.95 million out of a $26.6 billion general fund. Claiming a shortfall of $2.3 billion, the governor proposes a plan that reduces expenditures by $1 billion in 447 appropriations.
Besides the Heritage Areas, grants for local historical societies and the volunteer, nonprofit Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, funneled through the state History and Museum Commission, would end under the Rendell budget.
"There is no doubt there is a budget problem," said Augie Carlino, CEO and president of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area. "We all understand that. But cutting this money will have a negative exponential effect."
During the six years of the Rendell administration, his agency received $2.8 million. "We've been able to turn that into $38 million. That's money we've leveraged from foundations and others. All of that is going to be gone," he said.
Holdorf said that in 2007, on $88,850 received from the state, she leveraged some $421,000 in additional revenues. Since 2000, based on state outlays amounting to $1.1 million, cash leveraged by the National Road Heritage Corridor has totaled $4.3 million, according to Holdorf.
That money has gone to a variety of projects, including laying the groundwork for a $1 million streetscape project in Hopwood, restoring murals at the Fayette County Courthouse and rehabilitating pre-Civil War railroad tunnels on the National Pike Trail in Washington County.
"We understand there have to be choices made," Holdorf said. "What we don't understand is why we are taking a full hit. Everybody needs to tighten their belt."
"I'd hate to see anything happen to Rivers of Steel," said Pat French, president of the Bulgarian-Macedonian National Education and Cultural Center in West Homestead. "They've been a terrific partner. We wouldn't be where we are today without them."
Among other things, Carlino's group helped fund the restoration of the Depression-era building the cultural center occupies on West Eighth Avenue.
The proposed budget cuts could have a profound impact on county historical societies.
Ken Burkett of the Jefferson County History Center in Brookville said his group could lose as much as $20,000, a third of its operating budget.
Tina Yandrick, office manager of the Ligonier Valley Historical Society, said that while state dollars account for 5 percent of its budget, every dollar lost means something: fewer summer interns, fewer demonstrations of frontier skills, fewer repairs to facilities, like last year's repair of a sidewalk outside historic Compass Inn.
Johnna Pro, spokeswoman for state Rep. Dwight Evans, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said Evans is "extremely sensitive" to the anguish the Rendell budget has engendered.
"We understand people are very nervous about these proposed cuts," she said.
But Pro promised nothing other than "a lot of negotiating before the budget is passed."
By Richard Robbins
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, March 21, 2009
