The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District is one of six banner districts that meet the Los Angeles County Arts Commission’s “Arts for All” initiative’s principles in providing arts programs to students.
By Nora Fleming / Special to The Malibu Times
In the wake of a Los Angeles County Arts Commission report that cites the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District as having one of the top-notch arts programs in the county, school board members weighed the possibility last week of making cuts to the district’s music program, which has been hailed by parents, replicated by other school systems and credited by some as proof that the district has made arts education part of the core curriculum in its public schools.
Though board members last week agreed to hold off on layoffs for the music program, the program, and other arts programs within the district, are still not out of the danger zone and risk reductions due to a potential cutback in funding.
The district’s arts program has seen a general restructuring in the past few years, particularly due to a partnership the district formed with the art commission’s “Arts for All” initiative, which works to develop arts infrastructure within Los Angeles County’s 81 school districts.
The initiative was adopted by the county Board of Supervisors in 2002 after a study revealed a lack of systemic arts education countywide, and has helped districts, including SMMUSD, create the necessary backbone infrastructure and district-wide plans to build a sustainable arts programs.
The commission’s recently released Arts Education Performance Indicators Report, or AEPI, shows significant increases in the number of districts adhering to the initiative’s five principles: adopting a board-approved policy and plan, a 400 to 1 student-art teacher ratio, employing a district arts coordinator and a 5 percent district fund allocation to arts programs.
SMMUSD has worked toward meeting Arts for All’s five tenets since 2005 and today is one of six banner districts meeting all criteria, except for the 5 percent allocation of general funding for the program, though it has increased funding from 3.4 to 3.7 percent in the past three years.
Since partnering with Arts for All and adopting a board approved policy and plan four years ago, the SMMUSD has been able to attract more grants and funding that have supported the expansion of a number of programs, said Tom Whaley, SMMUSD arts coordinator. Throughout SMMUSD, enrollment in all visual arts classes has increased, though total enrollment within the district has declined.
“We didn’t have a policy or standards or long-range goals [before Arts for All],” Whaley said. “It helped us develop a strategic plan about where we wanted to go and has helped keep arts on the minds of decision makers in the district.”
Whaley credits the music program as one of the district’s major success stories since the board developed a plan, growing from a “pull-out” program where fourth and fifth grade students left their classes during the day to take a music elective, to a required weekly class for third graders and a biweekly class for fourth and fifth grade students.
The music program has also been heavily supported by the contribution of the California Arts and Music Block Grant, passed in 2007-2008, which, with additional funding from Measure R and SMMUSD, enabled SMMUSD to hire two full-time music teachers, expanding the program to today’s count of 10 teachers who teach 2,516 students.
The two newest positions are now at risk for a cut; that loss would mean an end to the district third-grade music program and the possibility of a return to a “pull-out” program for fourth and fifth graders.
Though SMMUSD has become a model for other school districts, the offerings within the district that serve 11, 565 students still have room to grow and benchmarks to meet on what was set as a nine-year road map for change, Whaley said.
Currently, there is no district-wide visual arts program for K-5 students, no credited dance classes at Lincoln Middle School, Malibu High School or Olympic High School, and no credited theater classes at Lincoln or John Adams Middle Schools.
PTA school site funding and endowments from nonprofits like the Education Foundation contribute the funds for all district visual arts offerings at the 11 elementary schools. This means that some of the schools, which receive a range of $15,000 to $45,000 annually in PTA funding, Whaley estimated, are seeing very different offerings at the K-5 level. “I know we’re facing a budget crisis, but we are still counting on the [school board] to support arts in our district as they have the past few years,” said Cindy Rosmann, chair of the Visual Arts District Advisory Committee. “We may not be able to expand the program right now, but we want to maintain it. We hope to keep cuts as far away from the classroom as possible, weather the storm and get back on track.”
The school district is facing a $10 million to $12 million-budget deficit for the 2009-2010 school year and needs to make at least $6 million in cuts. “There are always going to be budget highs and lows, but we have worked to position arts in the districts so they aren’t always the first thing on the chopping block and are on equal par and footing with core curriculum,” said Ayanna Hudson Higgins, Los Angeles County Arts Commission director of arts, of possible arts cuts this year. “At the end of the day, it’s about a district and school board’s commitment to arts education. I don’t think it will be cut this go ’round.”
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District arts education statistics
€ 42 arts education teachers
€ 3.7 percent general fund supports arts programming
€ 297-1 student-credentialed art teacher ratio
€ $15,000 to $45,000 PTA funding per school for arts programs
€ 10 elementary music teachers serve 2,516 students
California Art and Music Block Grant
One-time monies to SMMUSD: $967,600
Annually: $197,000 (threatened)
1st Entitlement Grant Allocations at Malibu school sites:
Malibu High: $10, 879
Juan Cabrillo: $2,371
Pt. Dume: $2,396
Webster: $3,397