Bringing classical music to the classroom...
and the classroom to the concert hall!

In the United States

95 percent of Americans agree that music is part of a well-rounded education.
93 percent of Americans agree that schools should offer music as part of the regular curriculum.
                                                                           “American Attitudes Toward Music,” Gallup Organization, 2003.

Education saw the largest increase in share of the income tax dollar between 2000 and 2006.  In 2000, education made up less than 3 cents of every dollar in 2005, it made up 4 cents.  The rise in education spending is primarily due to the No Child Left Behind Act, though the Act itself remains significantly underfunded.
                                                               "Where Do Your Tax Dollars Go?" National Priorities Project, April 2006.

In California

During the period when the total California public school population increased by 5.8%, the percentage of all California public school students involved in music education courses declined by 50 percent.  This decline is the largest of any academic subject area.

“The Sound of Silence: The Unprecedented Decline of  Music Education in Public Schools,”
Music for All Foundation, 2004.

California arts spending decreased by 89 percent in 2003, and has not yet recovered.  This means that total state per capita funding on the arts is 6 cents, the least of all 50 states in the nation.
                                             California Arts Council, Legislative Funding History with 2005-06 Proposed Budget.

In San Luis Obispo County

San Luis Obispo County ranks 55th (of 58 counties) in California for retention of music education enrollment. (See here for more details)

The percentage of all SLO County public school students involved in music education courses declined by 76 percent between 2000 and 2005, while overall SLO County public school population decreased by only 3%.  This represents an actual loss of 9,869 students, or the equivalent of the population of Pismo Beach.
                                                                           
Music education enrollment has declined significantly more in the past five years than any other core academic subject in SLO County.  The next steepest declines are: 
                                                         - Dance at 45 percent
                                                         - Physical Education at 25 percent
                                                         - Science at 10 percent

Posting inclines in enrollment over the past five years are:
                                                         - Social Science at 1 percent
                                                         - Foreign Languages at 2 percent
                                                         - Math at 6 percent
                                                         - Computer Education at 10 percent
                                                         - English at 15 percent
                                                                        California Department of Education.  DataQuest.  28 April 2006.*

**PLEASE NOTE: Local school boards must provide accurate student participation data for music and arts courses for both individual schools and school districts to the public each year.  Individuals may access the current reported data for each school and school district from the California Department of Education.  The website address is http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/.

What Are We Doing About This?

Music education is fighting to stay alive not only in the United States, but specifically in San Luis Obispo County.  The SLO Symphony is just one of many organizations that commits to seeing arts education reinstated as a critical part of each child's complete education - not as a fun "extra" or icing on the cake.  Some of these organizations are:       

Cal Poly Arts
San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival
San Luis Obispo County Youth Symphony
Central Coast Center for Arts Education
Children's Creative Project
The Great American Melodrama
San Luis Obispo Little Theatre
Pacific Repertory Opera
The Clark Center Association
San Luis Obispo County Arts Council
Central Coast Children's Choir
San Luis Obispo Art Center
Youth Outreach for the Performing Arts Center (YOPAC)
Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts (PCPA)
Academy of Dance
American Dance of San Luis Obispo
Civic Ballet of San Luis Obispo

If you're a non-profit arts provider in SLO County and you would like to be added to this list, please contact Music Education Director, Jaime Lewis, at jaime@slosymphony.com or 805-543-3533.