National Archives seeks to shift presidential library costs to foundations

First on Fox: The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is seeking to reform the funding structure for presidential libraries in an effort to reduce reliance on taxpayer funding for operational costs and allow NARA to focus more on preserving records and providing access to them.

A total of 14 presidential libraries fall under the National Archives system — and that number is expected to jump to 16 presidential libraries dedicated to Trump and former President Joe Biden.

While NARA and presidential institutions have their own individual agreements specifying cost-sharing burdens for these presidential libraries, taxpayer funding currently goes toward maintenance costs including mowing lawns, painting walls and flushing restrooms in nearly all of these buildings, according to NARA.

In addition, government contracting for quick fixes like broken door hinges goes through the approval process in Washington and can take weeks or months to process, the agency said.

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As a result, NARA is in the process of negotiating with each presidential institution on an individual basis so they can take greater ownership of the operational responsibilities of their specific library, Jim Byron, senior archivist advisor, told Fox News Digital.

“Despite decades of well-intentioned monitoring and stewardship of U.S. presidential libraries by the National Archives, reality now dictates that operational changes can and must be made to ensure the long-term health of these American treasures,” Byron said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Monday. “Presidential libraries have grown in scope and purpose, and with that growth — and with expected future additions to the system — comes an increase in expenses to American taxpayers.”

NARA currently spends $91 million annually on presidential libraries from appropriations, and deferred maintenance costs across the entire library system total approximately $123 million.

Under current negotiations that began in the spring between NARA and presidential foundations, shifting some costs to presidential foundations is expected to save NARA $27 million. Those funds will then be funneled toward NARA’s core mission of preserving and sharing records — including digitizing and releasing more files, Byron said.

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President Ronald Reagan delivers a speech in the Oval Office of the White House, returning Nicaraguan aid. (Diana Walker/Getty Images)

Unless changes are made to shift more operational costs to presidential institutions, NARA’s ability to focus on its mission will be jeopardized, according to Byron.

“The alternative is to do nothing, let NARA appropriations go to lawn care and toilet cleaning at the expense of FOIA remediation, close all presidential libraries when the government shuts down, let the backlog of deferred maintenance grow, and regret not addressing the structures of presidential libraries,” Byron said. “The National Archives is committed to making sure this does not happen while providing services to the American people.”

Luke Nichter, a history professor at Chapman University, who said he spends an average of 100 days a year researching and interviewing former government officials, told Fox News Digital that given federal budget constraints, it is necessary for presidential institutions to bear more of the cost of maintaining these presidential libraries.

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“Building a presidential library now requires as much money as it takes to run for president — about $1 billion,” Nichter said in an email to Fox News Digital on Tuesday. “American taxpayers should not have to endure this. The administration deserves credit for starting an important conversation about the future of these cherished institutions.”

“In the future, the National Archives will have to focus more closely on what it does well — preserving federal and presidential records — and leave other tasks to presidential institutions,” Nichter said.

This latest effort is consistent with other initiatives underway at the National Archives that aim to redirect efforts toward the agency’s mission, including working with other agencies to release the files of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Amelia Earhart.

Former President Barack Obama is photographed next to the Obama Presidential Center building in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images; Reuters/Vincent Alban)

The structure of a presidential library varies, and NARA and each presidential institution have separate public-private agreements. However, private funds are usually used to establish a presidential library, which NARA then oversees using federal funding.

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But this is not always the case. For example, the Obama Foundation is a completely private entity and did not choose to create a library for NARA to store documents, instead choosing to build a private presidential center and a private museum. As a result, NARA digitized and stored Obama’s presidential records at NARA’s existing facility, and continues to oversee the preservation and provision of access to those records.

Previous efforts to renew the funding partnership between government and private entities were successfully completed in 2018, when NARA coordinated with each presidential institution to discuss what operations it could undertake amid increasing budget constraints. Ultimately, these negotiations led NARA and the George W. Bush Foundation to reach a new agreement to split operational costs.