The Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees failed to renew funding for a music education program yesterday, effectively discontinuing a 42-year-old collaboration with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. Board members voted 2-2 on renewing the program. Members Jonathan Larkin and Ann Jones voted for renewal, and Delmer Stamps and Ivory Phillips voted in opposition. Board President Sollie Norwood was absent due to illness.
The music program serves JPS elementary students by bringing in certified professional musicians from the MSO to teach string instruments twice a week. The program also brings MSO performers to every JPS elementary school and buses students to several full orchestra concerts a year. JPS spends roughly $300,000 per year on the program, $60,000 of which goes to administrative costs.
"The district didn't have to cut this," Larkin told the Jackson Free Press. "I was disgusted by the actions the board took in not renewing it. There are now over 400 students in JPS who have made arrangements to either purchase or rent instruments."
A violin typically costs $60 to rent for the year, according to MSO Executive Director Michael Beattie.
"We're very disappointed, and we're concerned for the students," Beattie said.
The program's demise could affect JPS students in more ways than their artistic development. Numerous academic studies link arts education to improved academic performance, especially in foreign language and math.
"You can document that students who are in music programs on average do better," Larkin said.
Stamps and Phillips did not immediately return calls for comment. At yesterday's meeting, Phillips argued in favor of saving money by replacing instructors from the symphony with university students. Associate Superintendent Wilbur Walters told board members that the district was looking into such an arrangement, but that a replacement program would not be ready until next school year. Larkin said that Phillips was mistaken, however, in thinking that the district could use university students in the same capacity.
"Dr. Phillips believed that we can use students from local universities who are in music programs to teach," Larkin said. "The issue with that is that the state Department of Education requires certified teachers to be teaching these programs. Students at the local colleges are not certified. The only way they could be certified is if they are graduate students in music who already have education degrees."
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