Buffalo School Slashes Music Education

The Buffalo Public Schools are dropping band, orchestra and all other instrumental music programs next year in half the schools that currently have such program, according to district teachers. That’s 14 of the 28 remaining instrumental music programs. District teachers estimate 1,300 students will be affected. Another four schools will see reductions in their instrumental music programs.

While the district has chipped away at its instrumental music programs for years, the elimination of so many band and orchestra programs next school year marks the first loss of so many at once.

The reduction also expands the gap between suburban and elite city schools that continue to nurture instrumental programs, while the remaining city schools are dumping concert bands and trumpet lessons in a desperate bid to boost core academic staffing.

“They’re making you want to leave the city,” said Phillips, whose daughter asked her if the family could move to Hamburg, where she has heard school band programs still exist.

Contrast Buffalo with a district like Williamsville, the next largest district in the region. It has a band or orchestra program at each of its 13 schools and more than twice as many full-time instrumental music teachers than Buffalo.

Williamsville has been named one of the 100 Best Communities for Music Education six times since 1999, including this year, and 30 percent of Williamsville’s students participate in some type of instrumental music program.

This despite the fact that Williamsville spends less than $17,000 per student, with 65 percent of that money coming from local taxpayers, while Buffalo spends $22,000 per student, with most of that money from state and federal aid.