New York Arts Groups Outline $23 Million Wishlist for Chancellor Fariña
Submitted by Steve on June 18, 2014
From by Geoff Decker, writing for Chalkbeat New York:
The city should subsidize the salaries of new arts teachers for up to three years to make sure schools are complying with state arts requirements, a coalition of education advocates says. In a letter sent to Chancellor Carmen Fariña on this week, the group outlined tips for how the Department of Education should spend an extra $23 million that’s likely to be allotted to the arts budget next year. Arts spending has fallen over the past decade amid shifting priorities, hovering at around $300 million in recent years.
The letter says some of the money should cover salaries to incentivize principals to comply with state arts mandates. The system lost more than 200 certified art teachers in the four years after a dedicated funding line for the arts was scrapped from school budgets, a policy that allowed principals to redirect funds elsewhere to offset several years of school-level cuts.