Maybe it is just me… but there is something that continues to disturb me about how arts instruction, while called a core subject – is treated and funded as anything but.
This story from the Arizona Republic highlights this issue and the inequity created when the arts are treated less than "equal." I know this may be a naive stance. But, we will never reach the often mentioned goal of music and arts education for all children unless move the idea of "core" from rhetoric to reality.
Arizona schools received more than $30 million from parents and patrons through state tax credits last year, up more than $3.2 million from a year earlier.
To some educators and parents, it's a sign that the 7-year-old system allowing taxpayers to donate up to $250 for a tax credit to public and charter schools of their choice is working well by supplying school districts with money for field trips, arts, athletics and clubs that otherwise might not be there.
For others, it's the sign a system that continues to benefit the biggest districts with the most affluent supporters and punishes those that aren't.
Arizona Republic: Donors give $30 million to schools
