Arts funding; Staking a claim in our political future

Imagine a crowded veteran's hall of spectators viewing the usual exhibit of children's school work displayed at a curriculum faire, and a handful of children, sans microphone, standing on chairs, bravely shouting their own poems over this din, willing the unruly crowd into submission, taming them with their flowered words. 

Attracted to our display of poetry and art, one parent bored by the obligatory citiquains passing for literature said, "Thank God for arts programs like California Poets in the Schools, because our children are capable of so much more than this!" A junior high school English teacher exclaimed, "This poetry puts the work of my junior high school students to shame." 

People who probably never heard a poem performed in their lives, stopped and listened to the children recite these islands of refuge, small poems to keep back the oppression punctuated by the backdrop of the Gulf War. 

Now imagine next year's curriculum faire with no exhibits at all, no music, no art, no poetry. If Governor Pete Wilson has his way, he will attempt to defeat Proposition 98 which guarantees a percentage of government funds for school budgets, so that the enrichment programs from sports to dance won't be threatened each year by gubernatorial whims.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said "It is time to stand up and fight for our basic community rights which means a decent education for every child in America. We must be willing to march, unify, coalesce and if necessary die for the right to an education," he said. "

Arts education is not a luxury" said Bill Honig, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. "We must make the investment... to elevate the study of the arts to its rightful place with other academic subjects in the education of every student." Arts education sharpens children's cognitive development, teaches cultural awareness and stimulates the creativity needed for the continuing economic vitality of our state. 

The State Board of Education adopted a policy that arts education is "an integral part of basic education for all students." Most indepth arts programming in the schools and communities, including California Poets in the Schools, are dependent upon seed or operating money from California Arts Council funded grants and special school discretionary funds. With the loss of Prop 98 and CAC funds, the future for any enrichment programs is bleak indeed.

With over 11 million people, California should lead the country in financial support for the arts and education; however in both arts and education (I believe they're both intrinsically linked), California, one of the most affluent states in the nation, ranks at trie bottom, number 40 (out of 50) in public support for the arts. (At 44th, it ranks in the bottom third in educational support as well).

Compare our $.58 per capita spent on the arts with that of Massachusetts at $2.15. States with much weaker economies provide far greater arts and education funding than California. Why this discrepancy between personal and public values? In the so-called "primitive cultures" such as Bali, there is no word for art because art is so much a part of their every day lives. Why not here in California? 

Arts and education are inexorably intertwined, we cannot separate the two. Please support both the CAC budget and Prop 98 by keeping them intact as the voters have so clearly requested of you. 

Maureen Hurley
California Poets in the Schools
California Poets in the Schools is committed to helping students throughout California recognize and celebrate their own creativity, intuition and intellectual curiosity through the creative writing process, and providing students with a multicultural community of trained, published poets who bring their experience and love of their craft into the classroom. Since 1964 California Poets in the Schools has reached over a half a million students in every grade level in thousands of schools across the state.