After the SC House passed their version of the State Budget, with $350,000 increase for general arts funding, but with $0 increases for arts education, the SC Senate approved a budget that added $100,000 for arts education.
Now the budget heads to Conference Committee, made of three Senators and three Representatives, to work out the differences between the two budgets – including the difference in funding for arts education. The Committee has already met twice, but has postponed any decisions on financial items until later in June.
Those Conference Committee Members include:
Senator Hugh Leatherman (Florence)
Senator John Matthews (Orangeburg)
Senator Sean Bennet (Charleston / Dorchester / Berkeley)
Representative Brian White (Anderson)
Representative Bill Clyburn (Aiken)
Representative Derham Cole (Spartanburg)
NOW is the time to contact these legislators and encourage them to adopt the Senate version of arts education funding, including the $100,000 increase. These funds will support increasing the number of Arts in Basic Curriculum school sites across the state and support rural outreach.
If you are a constituent of these legislators, reach out to them ASAP and encourage them to help grow arts education in South Carolina!
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*note: only constituents of these three Representatives will be able to submit emails through our system. If you are not a constituent, you can email representatives directly through the Statehouse website.
