No education is complete without the arts. All PreK-12 students must have the opportunity to create and appreciate art, as a part of the core curriculum. Universities grant advanced degrees in arts disciplines; likewise, elementary and secondary schools should treat the arts as academic subjects.

Besides their intrinsic value, arts programs, like athletics, can motivate students to stay in school, especially students who are struggling in other classes. That reduces the dropout rate and can also close the achievement gap, because music and theater participation have been shown to raise students’ academic achievement and SAT scores, helping with college eligibility.

Many lower-achieving students’ families cannot afford music lessons. The SMMUSD narrows the music achievement gap through the Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation, Gail Dorin Music Foundation, and the Ella Fitzgerald Foundation, which fund the Dream Strings and Dream Winds programs at the four Title I schools and two middle schools.

When teachers are cut, the arts traditionally take the biggest hit. For example, this spring the SMMUSD School Board voted to cut about 10% of our district’s teaching positions, including four music teachers, who represented 16% of the district’s music teaching staff. The same thing happens when visual art teachers are cut. I have identified many potential cuts that don’t involve student-serving positions (please see the budget section of this web page). Arts programs have the most to gain from this focus shift.

During budget deliberations I would remind board members and administrators of three financial facts:

• Secondary music classes save money. Samohi’s marching band has more than 100 students; the symphony orchestra has 80-90 students; choirs and other ensembles have much higher teacher-student ratios than other classes.

• Many parents place and keep their children in Santa Monica-Malibu schools because of the 3-12 music program and the high school theater program. Private schools cannot match what we offer. Now that the district is losing state funding because of declining enrollment, this fact is even more important.

• Arts programs have active parent support, which is another source of funding to pay for art supplies, sheet music, instruments, theater and dance production costs, teaching assistants—expenses the district would ordinarily be expected to cover.