Funding of Texas Fine Arts Programs in Schools
Public schools in Texas require students to take some type of fine art education. However, budget crunches have led some schools to cut back on their arts funding, forcing schools to rely on participating students to fund the programs or looking for other resources. Although some money for arts funding still comes form the state, schools are increasingly relying on grant funding to pay for music, dance, art and theatre education.
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District Spending
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Texas has an education system that is managed at the local level and funded through property taxes. To find out how much a school district spends on its arts programs, you must look at the budget for that school district. However, all of this information is reported to the Texas Education Agency, a regulatory board that guides each public school district in Texas. The Texas Education Agency audits each school district and provides a fiscal rating. You can look up what rating your school district has on the agency's website.
Requirements
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Texas laws require school districts to provide some type of fine arts education. However, the law can only set this standard and does not force school districts to put money into their fine arts programs. To remedy this, some school districts seek student financial contributions, participate in fundraisers and seek grant funding to pay for expensive equipment that can be associated with fine arts programs.
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Funding Trends
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In 2009, the Texas Legislature gave a sharp increase to the Texas Commission on the Arts' budget, from $10 million to about $16 million. This resulted in the state spending about $1 per capita on arts funding. The commission funds are education and other public art programs. That was a dramatic increase over previous budgets when the state spent only about 18 cents per capita on arts, one of the lowest states in the nation. Although Texas had ranked 49th in the nation on arts spending, that trend could reverse, as other states have cut back on their arts spending while Texas increased its spending. The National Assembly on State Arts Agencies reported that appropriated were expected to decline by $24 million nationwide between 2009 and 2010.
Grants
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Schools that face budget shortfalls that cut away at arts budgets can consider applying for Texas-based grants and endowments that can pay for arts programs.
The Texas Commission on the Arts offers funding to arts organizations, including schools and school districts. The Brown Foundation distributes funds to encourage education, community service and the arts.The Meadows Foundation provides $500 for arts projects aimed at community service. The Moody Foundation focuses on funding Austin, Dallas and Galveston communist and can provide funding for arts-related initiatives. The Swalm Foundation can fund under-served Texas communities. The HEB Community Investment Program can fun schools that are served by HEB grocery stores in a variety of education-related endeavors, including arts.
Art Education Day
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Advocates for states arts funding gather every year at the state capitol to lobby for more arts funding. The practice began on March 10, 1997. Since then, advocates have organized Texas Arts Education Month each March. The events bring awareness to Texas lawmakers about the benefits of art education in public schools.
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- Photo Credit guitar guitarist music musical instrument image by david hughes from Fotolia.com
