Klarinet Archive - Posting 000624.txt from 1998/04

From: oliver@-----.EDU (Oliver Seely)
Subj: Re: budget cutbacks
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 12:31:18 -0400

When I resubscribed to KLARINET I requested a list of all subscribers, as I
always do for any list I join. We are now 416 strong. We all need to think
about this problem of the funding of music, art and drama programs in our
schools. Keeping the issue alive in a group like this may well be part of the
solution to the problem. As I approach retirement I've been thinking about how
to keep my offerings of .MUS and MIDI files alive for a while longer anyway.
One way to do that is to set up a private endowment, a foundation I guess it's
called in the U.S., and follow all the rules to make sure that it is non-profit
and that some high percentage of interest from the endowment goes to support
the mission and goals of the foundation.

When I was a kid growing up in California, a public school wouldn't have
dreamed
of setting up a foundation for anything because it was assumed that our public
schools were 100% tax supported. Things certainly have changed. Many
school districts now have foundations set up with various endowments. You
might consider checking into the matter yourselves and if there isn't an
endowment
for the arts (ah, what a great idea!) in your school district, maybe you can
help
to spearhead such an effort. Then, when you become rich and famous, don't
forget all those deserving little kids whose lives will be immeasurably enriched
if they are treated to the best things any culture can offer: its music,
its art
and its drama. Don't forget to leave them something in your will. Or better
yet, get out your checkbook from time to time and write a big one to that
cause rather than the United Fund.

There is always the added benefit of going to a concert, a play or an exhibit
from time to time and knowing that you're part owner of the enterprise! That
certainly beats what I have to do every couple of years: call Planned
Parenthood
International and make sure they are continuing to receive my paycheck
deduction!

Oliver

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Cheddar99 <Cheddar99@-----.com>
>
>|>My younger son plays trumpet and baritone horn in his high school marching
>|>and concert bands. And every year the same damned thing happens: Oh We
>|>Can't Afford This, Boo-Hoo, cries the School Board. And every year, after
>|>the band parents raise holy Hell, the same thing happens: the band budget
>|>gets salvaged because Wayne Valley High School can't lose face by fielding
>|>a football team without a marching band. But I know damned well that if
>|>the township could get away with it, my son would be working his musical
>|>chops on a wax paper kazoo in the boy's room.
>|
>|This happens at my high school too. Every year the school board cuts back
>the
>|music departments budgets soo much, and only adds to the sport department.
>|unfortunatley, no matter how hard we yell, they keep cutting back. they
>even
>|went as far as to cut back our orchestra teacher's salary, so she refused
>to
>|do activities that have been done by her in the past, such as run our pep
>|band. Our school is currently getting remodeled and they even cut back the
>|plans for our new music building. we wouldn't get one at all if a local...
>
>This reminds me of a quote from the movie Mr. Hollands Opus, right after
>Glenn Holland (Richard Dreyfuss) finds out the Art, Drama and Music programs
>have been cut and eliminated from JFK High:
>
> "Well, I don't think you have anything to worry about Gene. The day they
>cut the football budget, now, well... THAT will be the end of western
>civilization as we know it."
>
>At least some should be grateful to get any music budget at all. I don't
>wish to sound critical of anyone, and I apologize if I do, but the music
>programs around here have no music budget, and the only funding we get are
>teacher salaries, parent band boosters, donations, city grants, and any
>education bond measure that they can manage to squeeze something in for the
>music departments. This sounds like a lot of money, but rest assured, it's
>not.
>
>All I can say is... Thanks a lot, Prop 19. (You wouldn't understand unless
>you lived in California)
>-jason
>
>
>
>