When money is tight, schools look to cut arts programs

PART 1: April 7, 2009:

School athletics programs prepare for cuts

Central Region schools avoid 'pay-to-play'

The 373 Hanover County students in this year's elementary strings program will be the last group of children to benefit from a music program that began more than 20 years ago.

The program, which is for fifth-graders, was cut for the 2009-10 school year to save the school division more than $200,000.

Parents, however, say musical instruction at a young age is priceless.

"If you don't start them at a young age, to get them to start as they get older is very difficult," said Hanover resident Debbie Glover, whose two boys began playing with the strings program in fifth grade at Washington-Henry Elementary School. The boys, now at Atlee High and Chickahominy Middle schools, still play in their school strings groups.

"They cultivated something," Glover said. "It's been a part of why they're successful in school."

When times are tight, school divisions look to cut art and music programs to preserve jobs or fund core-subject areas that are tied to state tests.

Hanover School Board Chairman Bob Hundley said the school division's budget advisory committee looked at all non-Standards of Quality programs in the months leading up to the budget adoption. The school division was facing a $15 million budget shortfall, and art and music classes were among those programs considered for cuts.

He said the strings program also was identified because it used part-time teaching positions. The $200,000 savings included salaries for the equivalent of three full-time teaching positions. However, teachers rotate from school to school instead of each school having its own strings teacher. They also teach other classes besides the strings program. Under the budget committee's guidelines, part-time positions were considered for cuts before full-time positions.

"The goal now is to try and create an after-school program or a summer school program to replace that class," Hundley said. That may require parents to pay for the music instruction, he said.

"It's not an easy decision whenever you have to take classes off-line," Hundley added.

Hanover isn't the only school district in central Virginia making cuts to music and arts programs. Chesterfield County school officials have cut $78,000 countywide from instrument repair and purchase.

Shawn Smith, spokesman for Chesterfield schools, said individual schools are working out the details about how the cuts will affect them.

School officials in other central Virginia districts, including Henrico County and the Tri-Cities, say they aren't making any cuts to arts programs. Richmond officials say they don't anticipate cutting any arts programs.

Contact Holly Prestidge at (804) 649-6945 or .