The Peoria School District 150 Board of Education heard arguments at its May 12 regular meeting about the district’s plans to save money by combining certain classes in the fine arts, including high school orchestra and music theory classes, into a smaller number of sections.
Many public school districts in Illinois have been languishing under years of reduced funding from the state—which has cut funding to District 150 by about $19 million over the last five years—coupled with what many school boards and principals call “unfunded mandates” from state legislators. These “mandates” are new laws the state enacts that require schools to do something, which usually costs money, but don’t require the state to send any additional money to the schools to help them carry out the new marching orders.
The current plan in Peoria is not to “cut” any fine arts programming but to “combine” fine arts class sections. For example, if 10 students are enrolled in music theory I, 10 in music theory II, and two in music theory III, the district could combine music theory IV and music theory III in the following school year in order to avoid paying for a music theory IV class with only one or two students. A combined music theory III-IV class section could have a potential enrollment of 12, which is still small, but at least music theory teachers wouldn’t have to take two periods of their day to accomplish what they could do in one.
How combining music theory III and music theory IV into a single class is any more acceptable—or less absurd in terms of pedagogy—than combining, say, algebra I and algebra II is a total mystery to me. Schools have been making moves like this for a while, though. In the 1980s, when I went to high school, my French IV class met at the same time and in the same room as the French III class. We did lots of independent reading in French IV that year, as the talented and well organized teacher made the best of the situation.
Nobody denies the need to save money: 14 groundskeepers were dismissed at this same board meeting strictly for budgetary reasons. But the need for teachers to give students their undivided attention in a music ensemble means there would be no “independent reading” in a combined orchestra class section. Students in the half-class the director isn’t working with won’t even be able to practice or make any music at all, because doing so would disturb the rehearsal time for the other half, who would be benefiting from the director’s attention.
In other words, maybe the music theory classes are like French and kids could work on their own half the time, but combining the orchestras would be a major blunder and would only be done by a board that has either no other choice or no understanding whatsoever about music education in Illinois schools.
Says Carrie Conton, a junior at Peoria High School who spoke to the board:
I understand the importance of the district’s budget, but the separation of the orchestras [into a beginning orchestra and a concert orchestra … is] a necessity in our schools. …
I’ve been playing the violin since kindergarten. … But I did not truly start getting into music until I got to high school. … My concert orchestra is special to me. The people in my concert orchestra have a higher degree of understanding. Therefore, the music that we play has a higher degree of difficulty than the lower orchestra.
Whenever I see difficult passages in my high school orchestra, I understand those passages, and I learn from them. And I use them whenever I have other rehearsals for my youth symphony.
Board members followed the sometimes-academic, sometimes-emotional pleas from parents, conductors, and former students with substantial discussion of their appreciation for arts education. Pledges were heard to look into possible partnerships with nearby colleges and community colleges for dual-credit opportunities and with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra for advanced performance opportunities on an extracurricular basis.
But district Superintendent Grenita Lathan said she would have to make decisions based on numbers. Yes, the enrollment numbers she cited were disputed and believed to be lower than what teachers said they were seeing in music classes and ensembles, but her numbers are considered official.
For me, though, the enrollment numbers miss the point, which was made eloquently by Ms Conton. Making her sit for a period in an orchestra with beginner violinists would be a waste. The quality of the education received, not its strict cost efficiency, must be our highest goal. If arts education is to continue to thrive in Peoria’s public schools, cost efficiency should play second fiddle to the quality of the pedagogy.
