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Governance of the New York City School District

Testimony to the Assembly Standing Committee on Education
Delivered by Kira Streets, Director of Public Engagement, CAE
February 6, 2009
 
Good afternoon. I am Kira Streets, Director of Public Engagement at The Center for Arts Education. Thank you for the opportunity to provide comment to the Assembly Committee on Education on the topic of school governance. 
 
The Center for Arts Education (CAE) is dedicated to ensuring that all of New York City’s Public School students have quality arts learning as an essential part of their kindergarten-12th grade education. We work closely with many organizations that are here today as well as thousands of public school parents to ensure a quality educational experience for our city’s students. CAE testifies today on behalf of those parents and as a member of the Campaign for Better Schools. 
 
I would like to share our concerns with the current governance model and offer a set of suggestions for the legislature to consider.
 
CAE’s concerns with the governance structure as it exists now speak directly to the simple fact that our children are not receiving the education they are entitled to under the law. The impact of the continual loss of arts education access and availability is felt on every level—from the economy to graduation rates to the culture of a school, and, most importantly, to each student’s personal fulfillment and well-being. Arts education is also mandated by the state. The system as currently devised has allowed New York City public schools to fall woefully out of compliance with state law. 
 
Over the past several years CAE has witnessed the pronounced narrowing of curriculum, especially in schools with the most struggling students and the least access to external resources. Most unfortunately, rather than engaging all of our students in the learning that opens doors of appreciation for the rich cultural experiences unique to our city, it seems that demographics are in fact destiny.   
 
Through our work with parents, we hear the common refrain that the arts are missing from their schools and as a result their children’s love of learning is in jeopardy. Parents, health and education experts, and advocates are dealing with the ramifications of a system that takes into account only the part of a child’s development that translates into test scores. In order to see real, meaningful improvements in education, we must adjust the current model to include greater public participation, transparency, and a system of checks and balances.
 
There is one particular case that points to the need for the principles we believe would enhance the current governance structure: the phasing out of Project ARTS.  

After near eradication from the system, arts education was on the rise due to the creation of dedicated funding provided to schools on a per capita basis through Project ARTS. It was the only guaranteed budget line for the arts and [also] the fuel behind the improvements to arts education over the past decade. With no evaluation of Project ARTS’ impact [and] no means of real input from teachers, parents, or elected officials, Project ARTS was eliminated prior to the 2006-2007 school year. Many schools [had] depended on this funding to keep the arts alive in their classrooms. Now that that line item is no longer dedicated but part of a general pool, significantly less money is being directed toward arts education despite outcries from parents, students, and the community.
 
As teachers and parents are reporting, the unintended consequence of unilaterally removing this critical funding stream without an adequate safety net for arts education is a loss of arts programs, the excising of arts teachers, and a move away from a well-rounded education. For a quick glimpse into the state of arts education today, consider that according to the NYC DOE’s own 2007-2008 Arts in Schools Report,
 
  • Only 8 percent of our public elementary schools are in a position to meet the state standards by providing instruction in all four required art forms in each grade: visual arts, dance, theater, and music 
  • Less than half of middle schools are ensuring that every child receives the State Education Department’s arts requirements for grades 7 and 8
  • 30 percent of schools have no arts specialists whatsoever—up from 20 percent the previous school year. That means several hundreds of thousands of students attend a school without an arts teacher
  • The ratio of arts teachers to students, which gives us a blunt gauge of access, contains statistics such as one theater teacher in the system for every 13,000 students. And each theater teacher on average has to work with a school population of 929 students.
As it stands, there is little in the way of accountability to address the incredible deficiencies and inequities of schools in meeting the state instructional requirements for the arts. With unilateral control of the types of decisions that impact teaching and learning in the entire school system, the lack of public input and accountability for the decision-making is troubling.
 
To address these concerns, The Center for Arts Education is calling for the implementation of the recommendations as laid out by the Campaign for Better Schools. These include improvements with regard to checks and balances, public participation and transparency. The complete proposal is included in the written testimony that I have submitted to the committee. 
 
I thank you for your time and your consideration of our concerns and suggestions. CAE looks forward to further opportunities to participate in the improvement of the school system and the delivery of a high quality, well-rounded education to all New York City school children.