Kimi Danaei
Manhattan Beach Unified School District Administration and the Board of Trustees proposed reductions to music program funding for the 2020-2021 school year during the February and March board meetings to accommodate the recent budget decline.
The district began creating a reduction plan for the 2020-21 school year before January, seeing that is an estimated four percent drop in student enrollment next year which correlates with a decrease in state funding for the district.
“While it’s good to be conservative, the MBUSD forecast for 2020-21 is more than three times the average annual drop in enrollment over the past three years and twice as large as any one drop over the past decade,” Gray said.
The district’s music programs are funded by four organizations; MBUSD, The Manhattan Beach Education Foundation (MBEF), Booster Clubs, and the PTSA/PTA. The district and MBEF provide 75 percent of these funds but the decision to reduce the program’s funding would result in around $215,000 or over 25 percent of the program’s funds being cut. This affects the number of students participating in music programs and therefore produces a risk of losing the programs.
“After hearing about the music program budget cuts, I already knew it could collapse the whole program if they decide to proceed with the decision,” orchestra student and junior Julia Vazquez said. “My initial worry was for students in elementary and middle school that would eventually be forced to choose other classes over music due to the loss of an elective period; it would eventually become impossible to have enough students playing at the high school level.”
During the February board meeting, board members eliminated the elementary music teacher positions for first and second grade, the music assistant position for third-fifth grade, and zero period for sixth graders at MBMS according to a report written by national music expert, Dr. John Benham. A subcommittee including booster representatives and music teachers was created soon after for the purpose of supporting the music programs and providing alternative solutions to the board regarding these reductions.
“[The booster clubs] recently began working with Dr. John Benham, a national education expert, to analyze the budget cuts and assess the program, and we have reported Dr. Benham’s findings to the school board,” Gray said. “As a result, the school board has created a subcommittee to examine the district K-12 music program and submit recommendations as soon as possible.”
In the March 4 meeting, the school board proposed a 50 percent reduction to Costa’s Choir program and a 50 percent reduction to the Orchestra program. The reduction would cause the programs to lose classes. This would affect the quality of the overall program and students’ education according to Gray.
“I’ve been in choir for eight years and it has meant so much to me because I’ve got to sing with friends and my voice has improved so much over the years,” choir student and junior Brynn Shapiro said. “These budget cuts sadden me because, with less money, we will have fewer opportunities than we normally do; it might mean fewer festivals and more fundraising, which requires a lot more work from the Choir Department because they have to raise money for all the things that we need.”
Costa’s music department and teachers informed students and parents about these possible changes on their websites and via email. They requested that students, parents, and community members help advocate the programs by writing comments to the board about their experiences. Students and parents sent these comments to the board during their meeting on April 15.
“Many students submitted public comments for the board meeting to emphasize what the program means to them so I think that alone will have a large impact on their final decision,” Vazquez said.
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