In Monday’s (3/7) San Diego Union-Tribune, Hailey Persinger writes, “This year, there are dozens of San Diego Unified elementary schools that devote about an hour each week to teaching students the basics of musical instruments. Next year, there might only be one. The district’s visual and performing arts curriculum faces a $2.8 million cut from its $3 million budget this year as officials try to fill the projected $120 million hole in the district’s $1.2 billion operating budget. … If trustees sign off on the budget proposal, it will mean the end of all elementary music education except for the program at Crown Pointe Junior Music Academy, which does not rely on visual and performing arts funding. Under the proposed budget, 10 art teaching jobs would be cut and more than 45 music teachers—some of whom are part-time—wouldn’t return next year to the district’s nationally-recognized music education program. … Cutting elementary music education could also have the same ‘trickle-up’ effect it did in the ‘80s, when the music programs at several high schools dried up because there were no students feeding into them, said Ann Marie Haney, co-chair of San Diego’s Community Council for Music in the Schools.”
Posted March 9, 2011
