The NC Grassroots Science Museum Collaborative was created in 1991 and is the only statewide collaborative of science museums in the US. Its purpose is to inspire and educate the state’s children and adults in the STEM fields, science, technology, engineering, math, and to help prepare the next generation of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, educators, etc. by helping them to achieve a strong foundation in STEM knowledge. Today, NCGSMC has 36 member museums that serve all 100 North Carolina counties.

The NCGSMC’s member museums engage millions of North Carolina citizens annually, conduct a vast array of STEM educational experiences and professional development opportunities for educators, and are valued educational resources in communities throughout the state. These museums are community-developed, community-valued facilities that possess a depth and breadth in STEM experiences that engage the whole family in STEM education. They also partner with schools, home-schools, universities and colleges (public and private) and STEM-based businesses in order to champion and communicate the importance of STEM education in advancing the State’s knowledge/innovation-based economy and its competitiveness globally.

The Aurora Fossil Museum and North Carolina Estuarium are members of the NCGSMC and receive funding from the state. In 2014-15, the Aurora Fossil Museum received $60,526 and, the  Estuarium $62,359. In the N.C. Senate’s version of the budget, they are scheduled to receive the same amount in 2015-16 that they received this year. Before 2013-14, the Estuarium was not in the NCGSMC and received $200,000 in funding from the state. The total amount of funding for NCGSMC museums in the proposed 2015-16 senate budget is $2,250,000.

In July of 2016, the senate budget proposes transferring the Grassroots Science Program from the Department of Commerce to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and shall administer the program as a competitive grant program. Any museum in the state may apply for a grant under the program, including a museum that has received a grant-in-aid as a grassroots science museum.

This also changes the amount of funds and the way it is allocated. The total amount is reduced from $2,250,000 to $1,350,000 with $750,000 for tier one and $600,000 for tier two counties. If, there are funds remaining after all museums that meet the criteria have received grants, the remaining funds can be allocated to any tier category.

Any time the legislature does anything, there are consequences. In this case:

The total amount of grant funds is reduced by $900,000.

The field is expanded. Any museum may compete for the available grant funds, not just those in the NCGSMC.

When the word competitive is used, the word subjective also comes into play. How the grant program is managed and administered by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is a question that would eventually be answered.

The maximum amount of a grant award in a tier one county is $75,000 which is more than the Fossil Museum and Estuarium presently receive.

Some museums will be left out.

Making the grant program competitive, means that everybody who presently receives funds may not receive them in the future. Reducing funding means that there is less to go around. The fossil museum is one of the main things Aurora has going for it and the Estuarium is Washington’s top visitor and tourist attraction. In the past they received $200,000 from the state but got $62,359 in the current year. Due to the decrease, Beaufort County budgeted $35,000 and Washington $18,000 to help support the museum and make up some of the difference. The loss of $60,526 would be devastating to the Fossil Museum.

The larger concern is: is the legislature slowly moving towards the elimination of the grant program entirely?

Al Klemm is a retired Beaufort County commissioner.