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Problem-Solving Reaches New Level For 20-Year-Old Education Channel

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By WALT BELCHER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 21, 2007

Updated: 10/19/2007 07:33 pm

TAMPA - When Lucy Griggs first walked through the doors of the The Education Channel, it was in the back room of the University of Tampa Library.

'There was one rack of equipment, a folding table, two folding chairs, a telephone and this woman,' she says, pointing to Ann Goldenberg, the executive director.

That was 19 years ago, and Goldenberg had only been in the job a year. Griggs was hired as program director, and the two women have been working to build the channel ever since.

'We had a vision that this was something worthwhile for the community and for education,' Goldenberg says. 'And we have gone from only four hours of programming each day to 8,750 hours per year.'

The channel also runs a math hot line for students, televises the Hillsborough County school board meetings, offers college credit courses, showcases foreign and independent art films, runs educational workshops and encourages children to read through a summer book club.

This month marks the 20th anniversary of The Education Channel, which has been honored eight times as one of the best education-related channels in the country.

But the celebration has been muted by funding cuts that threaten the channel's future.

Also, a proposed relocation to a digital tier on Bright House Networks could make it harder to find and more costly for viewers. The Educational Channel is on channel 18 on Bright House. The cable company plans to announce the relocation in December.

It's on channel 32 on the Verizon FiOS TV system

'We are going to do our best to get through it because we've always had to make do with what we had,' Goldenberg says. 'We had plans to grow and add services for the community, but now we'll be fighting to survive.'

Lumped With Public Access

The nonprofit education channel, run by a board of directors made up of educators and people from the arts community, was created when the Tampa and Hillsborough County governments first granted cable television franchises.

Channels were set aside for education, public access and government-run programming. Originally, these channels were to be funded out of franchise fees the city and county collected from the cable companies.

In the 20 years since the channels started, the public access channel has commanded the most attention - most of it negative - because its free-speech policies opened the door for some outrageous and vulgar programming.

'One of the biggest hurdles we've had to overcome all these years is that many people, including our own elected government leaders, lump us in with public access,' says Tim Kennedy, a University of Tampa communications professor who has been on The Education Channel's board for 20 years.

He says it's disheartening that The Education Channel has been recognized several times by national educational television access groups as the best in the country, and yet it remains under the radar here.

'The channel's foreign and independent film series is outstanding,' he says. 'I'm a regular Sunday night viewer, and I've seen films there that you can't find anywhere else on television.'

Just a week before The Education Channel's 20th birthday, the Hillsborough County Commission voted to cut the county's contribution to the channel's annual budget - from $519,000 for 2007 to $250,000 for 2008.

Commissioners warned that in these tight financial times, there might be no funding in 2009. The commission voted to cut the entire budget for public access this year.

The Hillsborough County government channel also cut its budget by $238,695, but it was more than $2 million in 2007. At $1.9 million, the government channel will still get more than six times more money than The Educational Channel.

'It was a tough hit because it was about 25 percent of our total operating budget,' Goldenberg says. 'We still got our funding from the city of Tampa, which is $250,000. But we're going to have to make some cuts to get by. We're also going to have to start fundraising and seeking endowments.'

Goldenberg says The Education Channel has operated on a tight budget ever since it started. 'We've run on just over $900,000 a year for the past seven years. We actually wanted to grow and add some more services, but now we'll be fighting to survive.'

In 1994, the channel moved out of the library and into a studio-office complex it owns on Cypress Street in Tampa.

Goldenberg says their dream was to use part of the property for a studio laboratory where students could learn to make films. But they may have to sell the land.

For this year, at least, there are no plans to cut the successful 'Math Homework Hotline' that has helped more than 25,000 students with free, one-on-one tutoring. Thousands of students also have tuned to the channel to prepare for testing by watching the network's reviews of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test and algebra tutorials.

Devoted To Lifelong Learning

'Some people who aren't familiar with what we do, will ask, 'Why do we need an educational channel when we have PBS?'' Goldenberg says. 'We are different because we are designed specifically to serve the educational and cultural needs for people in Hillsborough County, from the youngest viewers to seniors. And we represent all the educational institutions in the county.

'We started with four hours that were televised college courses from the University of South Florida and we've expanded to include educational series about science, language arts, social studies, English, art, health and business.'

She says more than 100,000 college students have taken more than 50 courses for credit though the channel. And more than 100,000 children have discovered reading through the Summer Reading Club, 'Book Talk' program and 'Scholastic Classics' series.

'But we also want to serve the cultural needs of the community, and we've tried to do that through our film series,' Griggs says. 'We've put together an impressive library, and for 14 years we have sponsored an annual Independents Film Festival, where more than 1,000 students and local independent filmmakers have shown their work.'

Goldenberg says they will try to keep the film festival going.

She says the channel will save some money by trimming the staff through attrition (from 10 to eight).

'We still want to build something beneficial for the community that will last long after we are gone so we're not giving up yet,' she says. 'We do have a huge viewership for a local channel. Our research shows we have been watched in more than 117,000 households in the county during the year.'

For details, go to www .educationchannel.org.

Reporter Walt Belcher can be reached at (813) 259-7654 or wbelcher@tampatrib.com.

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