Education First

The Arts Education Master Plan

September 28 was the beginning of a new era for arts education in San Francisco schools. The San Francisco Unified School district and the City are partnering on a historic effort to bring back the arts for all students. The Arts Education Master Plan will revitalize the education of San Franciscos young citizens by capturing the diverse cultural and artistic energy of a city that is internationally renowned for its love of the arts.

At 10:30 a.m. at the San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum, Mayor Gavin Newsom, SFUSDs Interim Superintendent Gwen Chan, and SF Arts Commission President P.J. Johnston joined members of the Board of Supervisors and SFUSD Board of Education, arts providers from across the city and students from Lowell High School, Claire Lilienthal and George Washington Carver Academic Elementary Schools in celebration of the Arts Education Master Plan.

“This master plan is a living document that exemplifies the partnership between the City and the school district on arts education,” said Mayor Newsom. “San Francisco’s efforts are unprecedented – and over the next few months, we will witness ‘order of magnitude’ changes in the arts education that children receive,” continued the Mayor.

The Arts Education Master Plan is San Francisco Unified School District’s blueprint for integrating the arts into each student’s daily curriculum. The Plan calls for a sequential, comprehensive arts education program that reflects the high quality of San Francisco’s artistic landscape in the areas of dance, drama, music, visual arts and literary arts.
The guiding principle of this plan is that all students deserve both access to and equity in arts education and each school community, no matter the neighborhood or academic emphasis, will be called upon to embrace the notion that every student must be provided with the arts as an integral part of the academic day.

Interim Superintendent Gwen Chan said In San Francisco, we are committed to providing every student with a well-rounded education. For too many years, some students have not had opportunities to develop artistic literacy. Every school and every student will benefit from this plan.

Community Involvement

The Master Plan reflects the views of more than 1,500 students, parents, teachers, administrators, arts providers, and civic and business leaders. Proposition H approved by San Francisco voters in 2004, became the catalyst, making the Arts Education Master Plan, completed in August 2006, a funded mandate. The extensive increase in arts education spending, programming, support and resources that the Plan recommends will be funded largely by Prop H funds. Additional funding, such as the new State funding for the arts, will be aligned to the Arts Education Master Plan.

The new plan will hopefully keep San Francisco school students in touch with the vibrant artistic community around them and help them to take advantage of the many enriching opportunities for art in the classroom and beyond. San Francisco schools are ready to implement the new curriculum program at all levels to ensure a consistent and fulfilling learning experience for all students. Students, parents, and teachers at San Francisco schools are confident that the Arts Education Master Plan will mark their community as one committed to continued arts education.

Art programs, such as art appreciation, drama, theater and music, have been suffering across the nation for 30 years, as school officials concentrate on the basics of learning. With federal programs, such as No Child Left Behind, even more focus has been placed on basic learning skills, which excludes the arts. This also means that any extra funding is funneled into these basic learning programs in order to meet state and federal-set standards. Arts education is one of the standards that should be met by schools within the state of California, yet the state does not impose penalties on schools that do not met these particular standards.

A statewide survey by SRI International concluded that of the 1,123 schools surveyed:

89 percent failed to meet state standards for arts education;
Nearly 13 offered no art education coursework that met state standards;
61 percent had no full-time arts specialist, with classroom teachers without adequate training teaching arts education at the elementary level;
Kindergarten through 12 enrollment in music classes declined by 37 percent over a five-year period, ending last June; and
Poor schools have the least access to arts education; whereas better income schools (where parents can afford private lessons) are more apt to have it.

Chris Funk is the San Jose schools principal of Lincoln High School, a stellar magnet arts school. He believes that the more San Jose schools students are exposed to the arts the better they will do in testing within other coursework.

Studies have proven that a strong arts program can be linked to improvement in everything from math skills to truancy. Arts education in elementary and secondary schools produce skilled sculptors, actors, musicians, singers and so many other arts-related careers. The arts also improve the socialization skills of students.

Bill Eriendson, assistant superintendent of the San Jose schools, stated that the level of funding for the arts is inadequate. Last year, the state budgeted 500 million for the arts and physical education; however, this amount was a one-time deal. The norm is 105 million, which is about 15 per student. According to Eriendson, the San Jose schools requires about 800,000 to restore just their music programs at the elementary San Jose schools. This figure does not include the purchase of instruments.

San Jose schools are a good representation of the statewide findings. Besides trying to meet state and federal standards in the basic coursework, the San Jose schools were hit with Proposition 13 that was passed in 1978, which imposed tax cuts for Californians and greatly reduced funding for arts education. The arts were first cut in the secondary San Jose schools and then in the elementary San Jose schools. By the late 1980s, arts education was all but gone in the San Jose schools.

According to Funk, there currently is a waiting list of 225 San Jose schools students. He finds San Jose schools students are drawn to the dance, theater, music and visual arts programs offered by his school. Without the support of the Lincoln Foundation, which donated 75,000 for this school year, this San Jose schools arts magnet would not exist.