Administration Deals Public Broadcasting a Mixed Hand

FY 2006 Budget Proposal Maintains Level Funding for Ready To Learn, but Offers Deep Cuts in Many Areas

WASHINGTON – February 9, 2005 – John Lawson, president and CEO of the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS), expressed both praise and alarm concerning the funding levels contained in the Administration’s FY 2006 budget proposal. “In these tight budgetary times, we are pleased that the Administration recommended maintaining the funding level for Ready to Learn, an important educational program administered by PBS and local public television stations. At the same time, as public television stations are making such tremendous progress in advancing the digital transition, we are disappointed that the Administration proposed what amounts to a 25 percent cut in funding for public broadcasting’s operations and infrastructure.”

The lone bright spot for public broadcasting in the budget is the recommendation of $23.3 million for Ready To Learn – an important educational program that supports curriculum-based content and community-based outreach. The Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2005 provided $23.5 million for Ready To Learn in FY 2005. Lawson said: “We are pleased that the president chose to essentially maintain the funding for Ready To Learn at the FY 2005 level. This program directly addresses the Administration’s priority for education. Unfortunately, another important education program, Ready To Teach, which was funded at $14.3 million in FY 2005, would be eliminated under the president’s proposal. Ready To Teach focuses on teacher quality through public television’s digital technology – key elements of the president’s national education technology plan.”

The budget proposal also eliminates advance funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), as well as rescinding $10 million of the $400 million already appropriated to CPB for FY 2006. Lawson said: “Cutting advance appropriations would be a serious blow, as this practice, which is cost-neutral to taxpayers, provides public broadcasters with the critical lead-time needed to plan and produce programs. Advance funding maximizes fundraising efforts – stretching and matching federal dollars for the greatest impact.” Since 1976, Congress has set the appropriation amounts for CPB two years in advance. This practice encourages the production of programming by providing the adequate lead-time needed to plan, develop and fund projects; enables local stations to leverage the promise of federal funds to raise state, local and private dollars; and separates programming decisions from funding issues.

The budget essentially eliminates funding for digital infrastructure and interconnection by declining to recommend targeted funds for CPB to make available to local stations. Instead, the budget suggests using up to $30 million of the CPB regular appropriation for digital conversion, and $52 from that same appropriation for interconnection. Using money from this account for digital conversion and interconnection would reduce money available for local stations’ Community Service Grants (CSGs).

Lawson said: “Permitting CPB to take $82 million from its regular appropriation – which the Administration already recommends cutting by $10 million – for digital and interconnect really is not an option. The impact of what are effectively $92 million in funding cuts for CPB are substantial. Public television stations are helping to lead the digital transition and using our resources for a new generation of homeland security and educational purposes. Cuts this deep would substantially undermine the progress we’ve made, and the promise that the digital transition holds for the communities our local stations serve.”

The budget also recommends eliminating funding for the Department of Commerce’s Public Television Facilities Program, which has funded public broadcasting infrastructure since 1962. Finally, the budget eliminates funding for the PTV Digital Transition Grant Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture created to assist public television stations serving rural areas in upgrading transmission equipment to bring digital services to rural communities.

In preparing to take public broadcasters’ case to Congress, Lawson said: “It is clear that there is a lot of hard work that needs to be done to overcome the cuts proposed by the President. Our Capitol Hill Day meeting will take place next week, and hundreds of representatives of local public television stations will be in Washington, D.C. I am confident that their personal visits to their Members of Congress will help jump start the hard legislative work that has to take place over many months by the APTS staff to preserve our funding.”

Lawson concluded, “Our stations are quickly moving beyond the infrastructure conversion phase of digital transition and are beginning to roll out real services that help real people. Given the challenges that we face in the current fiscal environment, everyone in public television will have to work even harder to tell our stories about the promise these digital services hold. I am confident that once lawmakers see what we’re doing, we will have a chance to sustain the achievements we have enjoyed in recent years.” # # #