$4.7-Million Hike in School Art Funding OKd
The Los Angeles Unified School District board on Tuesday unanimously approved a $4.7-million increase in arts funding and creation of a 10-year comprehensive arts program.
Under the plan, which aims to make theater, music, dance and visual arts basic components of the classroom experience, general funds will be used to assign art specialists to elementary schools to train teachers, develop curriculum and relay information about partnerships with art and cultural organizations.
At a cost amounting to a tiny fraction of the district’s more than $6-billion annual budget, the program will eventually be expanded to secondary schools.
Research has shown that early training in the arts, particularly music, enhances learning and can raise standardized test scores.
“The arts foster students’ abilities to develop problem-solving skills, creativity, cooperative approaches, persistence and responsibility as well as oral and written language skills,” said Harold M. Williams, president emeritus of the J. Paul Getty Trust.
“The arts provide a balance in the curriculum that is particularly important for the development of tomorrow’s leaders.”
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