Facing the music: School band, other arts programs in peril as School Board prepares budget

Friday, April 25, 2003 | 11:05 a.m.

Before joining the Woodbury Middle School jazz band two years ago, eighth grader and alto saxophonist Josh Kephart was failing two classes and barely hanging on to a D average.

"The only reason I really come to school is to play in the band," said Kephart, after taking the stage Wednesday for the Clark County School District's jazz festival. "You can't play if you don't keep your grades up, so now I don't have anything below a C. Being in band is what motivates me."

He might not have that motivation to help get him through high school, however. The Clark County School Board meets May 7 to hammer out the budget for the 2003-04 academic year, and middle and high school music programs, including events like the jazz festival, are high on the list of potential cuts, district officials have said.

Steve Kellerman, band teacher at Woodbury, says it's kids like Josh who make the prospect of cuts to the district's music programs so frustrating.

"I cannot fathom a district this large not having a stellar music program," Kellerman said. "It winds up being a detriment for all of us when you create a society without the arts."

District officials have been told to prepare for as much as $220 million in cuts over the next two years if Gov. Kenny Guinn's proposal for new and increased taxes doesn't win legislative approval.

If the school board does have to make cuts, advocates for band and music activities are hoping it spares music programs because numerous studies have that found a direct correlation between participation in music programs and academic achievement -- particularly in mathematics. A report released last year by the Arts Education Partnership, a national coalition of 140 businesses and foundations, showed arts instruction led to improved cognitive and language skills, particularly for economically disadvantaged students.

"The experience for the kids is invaluable on so many levels," said Marcia Neel, coordinator of the district's secondary fine arts program. "We're all praying we don't have to cut a single dime."

In a district survey of nearly 2,500 parents, students and community members, the majority ranked music instruction at all grade levels as one of the top five programs they wanted to see protected from cuts.

But of the more than 11,000 district employees surveyed, continuing middle and high school music festivals, competitions and out-of-town performances didn't finish in the top five. Eliminating such activities could save the district close to $1 million a year, officials said.

"If we have to cut we'll start with things furthest away from direct classroom instruction," said Agustin Orci, deputy superintendent of instruction for the school district. "That could mean extra-curricular activities like our bands and choirs. No one wants to see it happen, but we're bracing for reality."

The thought that this week's jazz festival could be the district's last was "very disappointing," said Linda Davis, a seventh grader at Woodbury.

"Being in the band and the orchestra are a big part of my life," said Davis, who has played piano for seven years. "You get to know people from other classes and the music is really fun. It's something you don't get to experience any other time."

The district runs several such festivals throughout the year, showcasing student bands, orchestras and choirs and preparing students for the experience of competitions and concerts for large audiences out of state. The jazz festival ends today at Silverado High School, with a panel of professional adjudicators offering critiques and suggestions to the student musicians.

One suggestion for raising money for school music programs is the so-called "pay for play" concept -- where parents are charged for student participation in activities such as school band or athletics.

Kellerman, who has taught in the district for 11 years, said charging fees would all but eliminate music programs for schools in less affluent areas.

Of the members of the public surveyed, 51 percent said they agreed or strongly agreed with the concept of pay for play, while 59 percent of district employees backed the idea.

Kellerman strongly disagrees.

"It's a horrible idea," Kellerman said. "Parents already have to shell out money for things like gym uniforms. We can't ask them to pay for something that should be considered a fundamental."

The district has already trimmed $90 million from its budget in the past three years, leaving little money for non-essentials. That's why some principals, like Milana Winter at Jim Bridger Junior High School in the district's northwest region, have sought outside help.

Winter, who took over at Bridger in January, applied for and won a grant from VH1's Save the Music Program, which has donated more than $750,000 in instruments to Clark County schools. The school will receive $25,000 in instruments from the Tiger Woods Foundation, a partner in the VH1 program.

The new instruments will help revive the school's music program, something that has fallen to the wayside in recent years, Winter said. Because of low test scores, which earned the school a spot on the state education department's "needs improvement" list, the administration had let music instruction lapse while they focused on core academics, Winter said.

"We all know that kids involved in the arts do better in their core programs," Winters said. "It's also a way to address the attendance and dropout issue. If they're here, we can help them. This is about providing them with courses that they love to participate in and giving them a reason to care about school."

Superintendent Carlos Garcia said it's too early to say which district programs will survive the budget cuts and which will not.

"We've been saying all along that everything's on the table, and that's still true," Garcia said Wednesday. "We'll know more May 7, although we still won't know what our funding level will be from the Legislature, and that makes it hard to paint a real accurate financial picture."