Santabarbara secures $10 million in state funding for miSci building upgrades

Santabarbara, D-Rotterdam, said that he had secured the capital funding in the 2025 state budget, a month after he and county officials reached a deal to keep the science museum in Schenectady for at least five more years. The budget package is comprised of nine separate bills. The proposed legislation which includes funding for miSci passed both chambers of the Legislature and headed to the governor’s desk Friday. The Associated Press reported Friday afternoon that all nine bills should be passed and signed this weekend.

Earlier this week, Schenectady County issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a comprehensive study of the museum’s condition, with the county committing to spend an unspecified amount of funding to upgrade the museum once infrastructure needs are identified.

The museum has been located at its current Nott Terrace home since 1969, but museum officials explored potential relocation plans last year amid flooding concerns for the site’s basement and the lack of public funding.

Santabarbara and Schenectady County Legislature Chair Gary Hughes hosted a series of meetings with the museum this spring that ultimately led to an agreement to keep the science center in Schenectady, with the building survey marking the first step in identifying the site’s structural needs.

“This is big news not only for miSci, but the Schenectady community,” Santabarbara said of the state funding. “When there was the idea that miSci might have to close its doors or leave the community, the outpouring of support of people that stepped up to say how much they wanted miSci to stay in the community was amazing.”

Santabarbara said on Friday that the state funding will allow the museum to address potential flooding issues in the center’s basement, which currently imperil the museum’s archives. The state official said the funding will help fund the relocation of the science museum’s archives to a new home on higher ground on museum property.

"This investment marks a pivotal moment for miSci's future,” miSci President Gina Gould noted in a statement. “We are profoundly grateful to Assemblyman Santabarbara for recognizing and acting upon the significance of miSci to the Capital Region community. With his support, miSci is poised to continue serving our community for another 90 years.”

Santabarbara said state funding does not contain a set timeframe for when it must be allocated, with the funding to be used as needed.

“It was a collaborative effort to get people together at the table and to get levels of government working together on this,” Santabarbara said. “We all came together with a vision with the miSci board. Going forward, we’re going to continue that collaborative relationship.”

The funding will also allow the museum to expand its parking lot, fund improvements to the roadway leading up the hill to the science center and renovate its bathrooms, Santabarbara noted.

“Working together truly works, and we're seeing it firsthand,” Hughes declared in a statement. “The County's funding for an engineering study, alongside Metroplex's support to update the planetarium, lays the groundwork for positive change. We’re grateful for our partnership with Assemblyman Santabarbara, whose efforts secured a $10 million allocation to address issues identified in the engineering report.”

Neil Golub, chairman of the miSci Board of Trustees, praised Santabarbara’s efforts in securing the state funding. In the first meeting with museum and elected officials earlier this spring, Golub told the group that the museum would need $1 million in outside funding to sustain its operations through the end of the year.

"Thanks to Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara's game-changing funding, we've saved miSci after three years of tireless effort,” Golub noted in a statement. “He stepped up for miSci and his commitment has been the lifeline we desperately needed, and we're eternally grateful for his support."