Report of Regents Cultural Education Committee to The Board of Regents

Your Committee on Cultural Education Committee had its scheduled meeting on November 14, 2017.

Regent Roger Tilles, Chair of the Cultural Education Committee, submitted the following written report. In attendance were committee members: Regent Tilles, Chair, Regent Cea, Regent Cottrell, Regent Chin, Regent Johnson, Regent Ouderkirk and Regent Mead. Regents, in addition to CE Committee Members, in attendance were: Chancellor Rosa, Vice Chancellor Brown, Regent Norwood, Regent Collins, Regent Reyes, and Regent Mittler. Also in attendance were Commissioner Elia, Executive Deputy Commissioner Berlin, and Counsel and Deputy Commissioner for Legal Affairs Alison Bianchi.

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

Chair’s Remarks: Regent Tilles welcomed everyone and introduced Deputy Commissioner Mark Schaming. Mark provided a brief report on Office of Cultural Education news and activities including: announcing that 2.2 million children statewide participated in the 2017 summer reading program; New York State History Month programs including a November 13th program with acclaimed author and historian Russell Shorto, and a recap of the successful November 1st preview event for the Votes for Women exhibition which was attended by Chancellor Rosa, Commissioner Elia, Regent Cashin, and Regent Mead as well as various government leaders including Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, Assemblymember Pat Fahy, OGS Commissioner RoAnn Destito, and Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan.

Update from Educational Television and Public Broadcasting [CE (D) 1]
Representatives from New York State Public Television Stations reported on their programs and services for the 2016-2017 fiscal year. Presenters included: Julie Daniels, Director of Public Broadcasting and Educational Television; Robert Altman, WMHT President and CEO; and Jenn Baumstein, WMHT Director of Community Engagement. Robert and Jenn discussed the various educational activities and initiatives that New York’s public television stations engage in, including: family engagement, early learning/pre-school programs, broadcast specials, community events, educator resources, and teacher professional development opportunities.

2018 – 2019 Legislative and Budget Priorities [CE (D) 2]
Executive Deputy Commissioner Beth Berlin reviewed the proposed legislative and budget priorities related to the Office of Cultural Education for the 2018 – 19 year. Potential budget priorities include: increased state aid to expand two Public Broadcasting programs (Enterprise America and GPS for Success) statewide to each public television station and increase funding by $6 million for Public Library Construction. Advancement of the statewide e-Book platform budget priority is suggested to be postponed in order to engage in further development of a concrete plan and determine the best way to move this initiative forward. A potential legislative priority is the Museum Education Act which would establish competitive grants to support cultural institutions for education programs that support student learning opportunities. Chancellor Rosa and Regent Tilles suggested requesting pilot program funding for the Museum Education Act.