Last year, the state appropriation was cut by more than half. In many minds, the current crisis highlights long-standing flaws in the state's funding of museums, where political clout is often the determining factor . There's no rationale to how they're giving money out. It comes down to who you know. And that's a shame.
Some legislators say nearly as much.
Del. Ward Armstrong , D-Henry County, recently headed a bipartisan committee to restructure museum funding. It's been studied to death. Armstrong said one answer might be to start putting aside money from private sources for an endowment to fund Virginia's museums into the future. The endowment fund could then be administered through a system that does not necessarily involve the General Assembly . But some legislators won't go for it.