Testimony of Leo Casey before the City Council Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs Libraries and International Intergroup Relations on the State of Arts Education in NYC Public Schools April 8, 2008

Apr 8, 2008 4:47 PM

Good morning. I’m Leo Casey, vice president of academic high schools of the United Federation of Teachers.

Imagine a museum where the rooms were hung with the Great Masters’ math and reading scores.

Think of a nightclub where the jazz trio played recorders because there wasn't money for a saxophone, a piano and a bass.

Think of a city world-famous for its arts scene where kindergartens don’t have finger paints, middle schools don’t have bands, and high schools don’t have a senior play.

The people who come to New York from all over the world for its theater, art, dance and music do not know New York's dirty little secret:

Our schools are failing in the arts.

The majority of elementary and middle school students are not getting even the most minimal state-mandated requirements in arts education.    

If you can’t picture a city of the arts that doesn’t nurture its own creative young talent, let me paint by numbers.

There was a report put out by the Department of Education on March 6 of 2008 called “Arts in the Schools.” It was the first report of its kind.

At first glance, it seemed like good news. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced that 98 percent of elementary schools have at least some instruction in either the performing or visual arts. They said that in the school year of 2007-2008, school budgets increased arts spending by 3 percent, or $9.5 million, and that there was a 2 percent increase in the number of full-time certified arts teachers.

But we at the United Federation of Teachers agree with the response of the Center for Arts Education, an independent-thinking arts advocacy group in New York, when taking a harder look at the numbers in the report: The headline of the report should read that our students are not getting a well-rounded education.

That kids are getting “some education in the arts,” as the report stated, is not acceptable.

In the middle schools, only 29 percent of the 7th- and 8th-graders are getting the state-mandated levels of arts education. In the elementary schools, only 4 percent of the children are getting the entire array of the four required arts forms of dance, music, theater and visual arts for every grade. 

According to the data released, about 20 percent of the schools surveyed had no licensed arts teachers whatsoever, which totals to more than 200 schools.

Those percentages translate into thousands of children getting shortchanged. With the elimination of Project Arts, cuts to the school budget, a lack of licensed arts teachers, and many school administrators lacking in the skills needed to administer the arts, we're looking at a dire forecast.

When UFT President Randi Weingarten saw the numbers she announced that students are not getting the well-rounded education that they should be getting and to which they had a right. I quote: “Arts education is one of the most important and vibrant aspects of educating the whole child. It’s sad and ironic when this crucial aspect of a child’s education is getting short shrift in the world capital of arts and culture.”

Let’s look at the early grades first. Where have the crayons, scissors, clay and finger-paints gone? We’re seeing the near-disappearance of these materials during classroom visits. Something is seriously amiss when the message is that there’s no longer any time or money for children to be children. We’re paying a terrible price for the emphasis on test preparation. Is the lack of fostering self-expression, the lack of an emotional outlet that art so often is for children, the lack of socialization skills fostered by playtime and yes, by sharing your crayons— is all of this a contributing factor to the upswing of violent incidents in elementary schools?

Moving up to higher grades: No one disputes the importance of reading, writing and arithmetic, but when the Department of Education’s mandated double-period for math and literacy cuts into the arts, the trade-off can do more harm than good. Arts programs encourage critical thinking, enhance self-confidence and provide creative emotional outlets, traits often in short supply among our youngest adolescents.

As for the upper grades: How many of tomorrow’s most famous performers and artists will be able to say they got their start in a New York City public high school? Not only is a lack of arts education going to decimate the professional potential of this city’s incredibly talented kids, it’s going to leave behind the kids who one day could've been working behind the scenes- the lighting technicians, stage hands, carpenters, arts administrators.

The United Federation of Teachers recognizes the Department of Education’s good work in conducting a report on arts in the schools. It’s a first step in providing the public with information on the subject.  But they can’t spin the numbers and ignore the facts.  Arts education in our schools has been cut back or eliminated entirely.

The DOE must put money and resources behind its claim that there will continue to be progress in public school arts education since the 1970s, when it was practically eliminated.

After 20 years of dark ages in arts education, the era of Project Arts began in 1998, not quite a restoration but a renaissance, when our institutions ensured that every student had an accessible arts education. It was considered absolutely essential in teaching the whole child. Nurturing artistic talent and skills was considered absolutely essential for motivating certain students, who might be otherwise alienated, to stay in school.

But what happened? For one, the city stopped dedicating funds for Project Arts. For another, principals are no longer required to spend money on the arts. Then came budget cuts. So if you’re a principal, and you have a choice between cutting English and Math, which are what the success of a school is judged on or cutting the arts, which would you cut?

It all leaves us with a grim picture of the arts in our public schools. On behalf of a million children bereft of countless gifted arts teachers, we propose that the city breathe life and color and intelligence back into the picture by doing the following:

·   Restore funds specifically dedicated to the arts.  The DOE has made money dedicated to it assessment program sacrosanct in the current round of budget cuts.  It must do the same for the arts.

 

·   Hold the system as a whole — not just individual schools — accountable for providing the state mandated arts curriculum.

·   Ensure that New York City’s cultural organizations—museums, theaters, orchestras—and those who so generously support them, join in partnerships with our city’s schools.

Last, I’d like to share with you that over the weekend I heard a report on the radio about the exciting music scene — popular, classical and experimental — in Sweden. When asked why such a small country had such a vibrant music scene, one artist explained, “Every child in Sweden, beginning in kindergarten, is required to learn how to play at least one musical instrument.”

Arts education is not a frill—it is an integral part of a society’s culture and future.