No instrument left behind

Forty-five years of experience is quite a life for a saxophone, especially when it is passed between owners — most of them just-turned teenagers, spitting and blowing into the instrument as they learn to play — year after year after year. But if the instrument still works, it can't justifiably be replaced, especially not with state funds.\nThe 45-year-old sax is only one example of aging instruments and worn materials local music instructors have to work with, said Bob Austin, a music teacher and band instructor at Jackson Creek Middle School. Austin's students used the 45-year-old instrument when he taught at a different Monroe County Community School Corporation school, and he said he guarantees the school is still using it. \nSchools' budgets are continually being cut and the funds must be diluted to a growing number of programs. The budget cuts, combined with the recent implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act — which teachers say furthers the dwindling of arts programs because it forces schools to focus on subjects like math and science — have forced arts courses, like music, to suffer, Austin said.\n"There are only so many hours in a school day and something has to give," he said. \nAustin also teaches students how to mix and record music in a music technology class, but he admits the equipment is a bit outdated at 7 years old. \n"In the business world, you can't use 3-year-old equipment," he said. "But I'm not complaining." \nAustin said he has no problem with using older equipment and he is grateful to still have the opportunity to teach the course at a time when many music classes are being cut. \nSome state lawmakers say they were faced with a tough fiscal situation this year doling out funds for the state budget — which took effect July 1 — and it shows, as nearly one third of Indiana schools will receive some kind of funding cuts in the next two school years, said Marilyn Edwards of the Indiana State Teachers Association, which represents almost 50,000 teachers statewide. \nSchools across the state are being forced to cut positions and programs. This summer, Susan Walker, a South Bend music teacher who has been employed at LaSalle Intermediate Academy for 16 years, was named educator of the year in her school corporation only to be told the same week that her position might be cut, according to The Associated Press. \nAustin said his school's budget seems to get tighter and tighter each year, and he doesn't expect the upcoming years to be different. Jackson Creek typically requires students to take a music exploratory class in both the seventh and eighth grades, but the course will not be offered to seventh-grade students this year, he said. \n"When there are budget crunches, class size increases and class options decrease," he said. "There's just not enough money to take care of things." \nAustin said most publicly funded music programs experience difficulty when financing the high costs of replacing musical instruments and updating technology, especially when they are competing with so many other programs for a limited amount of funds. \nSarah Fronczek, a fine arts consultant for the Indiana Department of Education, said that budgetary constraints and pressure from the federal government to make specific yearly progress on standardized tests in math and English play a factor in the decreasing attention paid to music programs, although music is considered part of the balanced curriculum that the state requires. \n"(Because) No Child Left Behind (stresses) student achievement in language arts and mathematics in particular, we do see some decrease in music programs around the state," she said in an e-mail. \nThe decline in quality music education runs from the elementary level all the way up to high schools. Gwen Witten-Upchurch, choir director at Bloomington High School South, said in an e-mail interview that she has seen enrollment in her classes decrease significantly in recent years and "students across the board from elementary on up have less music (education) than ever before." But music educators argue their courses are important learning tools that benefit children's overall learning experience.\n"Music is an enhancement tool. It's not extracurricular; it should be inter-curricular," argues Kathy Heise, music teacher at Marlin Elementary. Heise said she teaches kindergartners to learn the months and days of the week through song, sometimes even incorporating musical math. She said she has seen several students who could not learn in a typical setting excel when taught the material through music. \nBrent Gault, assistant professor of music education at IU's School of Music, said music is key to a balanced curriculum in schools. \n"Part of (educators') job at school is not just preparing students by giving them tools, but also teaching them a way to express themselves," which can be done through music, he said. \nGault said he has seen music teachers more active in advocacy in recent years than ever before because many fear their programs will be cut. But he said it is still possible for music programs to survive, and even thrive, in the world of constrained budgets if the programs make themselves an integral part of the local community. \n"Programs that don't get cut are indispensable to the community," he said. "If you make the program indispensable, (your community) will fight for it." \nEducators seem to agree music is an essential ingredient to a well-rounded education, and many say officials who choose to cut programs are making a mistake. \nBut state Sen. Bob Meeks (R-LaGrange), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and primary architect of the state budget, said he has been warning schools that the cuts would come. \n"For the last three years, I've been saying 'There is no money,'" Meeks said. "Somebody should have been listening. We have an obligation to fund education, but we don't have an obligation to give them funding every time they turn around and think they need more money." \nMeeks said the state is not responsible for any schools cutting music programs, as those decisions are left up to the local administration. \n"I have been telling everyone there is no money — they should have been more frugal," he said. "Some elected not to do that, and they are finding themselves in the pink right now. But there won't be an impact unless they haven't managed their funds wisely." \nAs for that 45-year-old sax, it may be sticking around for a little while longer, traveling between the hands of a few more students until the teachers can convince the school it needs to be replaced. \n"Think of all the students who have squeezed the keys and what (that saxophone) has gone through," Austin said. "The Indiana budget crunch will come back and bite us"