Education Budgets for Art Education

Educating children in the arts is very important to their development as creative individuals. Unfortunately, in today’s world of high stakes testing art is in danger of being pushed aside as a non-essential subject. School administrators are faced with tough decisions when it comes to making budget cuts. They need to put financial backing into subjects that are tested in nation-wide assessments in order to get more federal funding or even stay open for that matter. Therefore, art is pushed aside and the department’s budgets are increasingly cut in favor of so-called core education classes such as math and reading. Art teachers are faced with being overwhelmed by the number of classes and schools in which they have to teach and do not have the supplies needed to give quality instruction.

The Federal Budget for Education

The attempt at cutting funding for arts education stems all the way from the federal level. The 2006 Fiscal Year Education Budget Summary is just one example. In the summary, it is proposed to make a cut of 35.6 million dollars in art education. This program provides “non-competitive awards to VSA arts and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as well as competitive awards for national demonstrations and Federal leadership activities to encourage the integration of the arts into the school curriculum” (FY 2006 Ed Budget Summary, 2005). These cuts would take away funding for higher art education for many students. It is seen by the current Bush administration as necessary and that these types of programs can be funded elsewhere. Funding of such programs by state governments is highly unlikely since they are also facing budget problems. The financial burden is then passed on to private contributors which is not as much of a reliable source as the government. Also in many cases in order to raise awareness and gain donors, money has to be spent by the institutions themselves, making it even harder for them financially.

The budget summary has no specific section for arts education, while there are several areas where math and reading are listed. Financial aid for higher education is given to students who excel in these areas. It should be a priority of the government to promote high culture and the value of an arts education by giving funding and financial incentives to those who show talent as painters, sculptors, and other artistic professionals. There are many brilliant people who may not show talent in the traditional subjects, but have great aptitude in artistic endeavors. Diversity of abilities should be recognized by the federal government in the form of monetary backing, instead of passing the responsibility off to state governments and private donors.

Local Budget Processes

Since the federal government is so large and it is relatively hard for the average parent to have a vote in budget development, it is important to get involved at the district level. In order to do this it is important to have an understanding of how school budgets are created. The following five steps outline the process:
• Step One: In most school districts, the budget is initiated by a top executive, usually the superintendent, or the chief business officer.
• Step Two: The budget process is when the proposed budget or summary of its major elements is presented to the school board.
• Step Three: Before a budget can be officially adopted, it must be published and made available for citizen review.
• Step Four: The budget process begins with the public hearings.
• Step Five: After the public hearings, the board adopts a budget with whatever amendments it deems necessary. (Bruhn, 2005)
The citizen review and public hearings are perhaps the most important ways that parents can get involved as advocates for their child’s art education. Many times the only way for a school board to keep funding in art programs is if parents make it known how important the subject is to the education of their children. Unfortunately, as Bruhn (2005) points out, there is often a very short amount of time between when the budget is made available for citizen review and when the public hearings are scheduled. This makes it difficult for parents to be involved in the process since they do not have adequate time to review the budget and design proposals. It is also difficult to make changes to the budget once it reaches the hearing stage, so it is important to get involved in the earlier stages. Unfortunately, many parents do know that this needs to be done, so changes can be made in a relatively easy manner without parental input.

Art departments are often the main area to be cut. This is because often times parents are more concerned with the subjects that are on high stakes tests, or because art is often not seen as essential. To those parents who highly value art education, it may seem as if they are up against a large opposition. Therefore, it is important for parents to understand the steps involved in producing the school budget and become active members in their school district. With the increasing emphasis on core traditional topics, art education needs advocates so children receive instruction on creative mediums.

The Effects on Schools Themselves When Art Funding is Cut

While school districts see the answer to their budget crisis as cuts to art programs, they do not foresee the problems that arise when students have no creative outlets in the classroom. This is demonstrated in the Milwaukee school district. Here it is shown that within two to three years of the budget cuts, morale has decreased and vandalism and delinquency has increased. Disciplinary staff had to be added to deal with the new problems that had arisen. In most cases, the additional staff cost more than the art programs themselves. (Hurley, 2004) This specific case demonstrates an even further reaching effect of a lack of arts education. Human beings inherently need to express themselves, and the arts provide a medium to do so in a safe and beneficial way.

The students are not the only ones who suffer when art education funding is cut. The teachers of the arts lose their jobs at the expense of the restructuring of the budget. Some of the most creative minds are being driven into unemployment or for the ones who keep their jobs, are being forced to teach many more classes than they should. In the Wisconsin example, teachers are faced with going from teaching 18 classes twice a week as of 3 years ago, to next year teaching 22 classes twice a week (Hurley, 2004). The quality of education suffers under these conditions. Teachers are overworked so they can no longer give personal attention to their students since they are teaching so many classes. Mastery learning becomes almost impossible because there is so much material to be cover and many lesson plans have to be developed for the many classes a teacher must instruct. Art is not taught effectively and so the creative development of the students suffers.

Conclusions

Budget shortcomings are costing American children their arts education. At the expense of this loss are the creative outlets for millions of children, and the overworking of art teachers. Budget makers and politicians see math and reading as the gold standard of education, but fail to see the enormous benefits of art education. Therefore, it is important that parents become advocates for the art education of their children. They need to get involved at the local level to make it known that they will not let art education be pushed behind the curtain when it comes to the education of their children. While it is important that schools perform well on high stakes tests, it is equally important that children are provided with a well rounded, diverse education to facilitate their intellectual growth. It is up to the parents and art educators to make sure that children receive instruction in order to become innovative and intelligent beings.

For further statistics on education go to:
http://www.edinformatics.com/edstats/stats.htm

And for further information on art budget cuts refer to:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/08/13/sprj.sch.cuts