EducationSchool Music Report

I play in an extremely small school band and I feel I would have missed my friends, the awesome teacher, and the music without it." 
— Talia Dugan, Portland Youth Philharmonic Wind Ensemble

Introduction

According to the "quality education model," Oregon's state school fund 2009-2011 legislative appropriation should be $8.4 billion. Ultimately $6 billion was approved- and it was nothing short of a miracle by many accounts. Depending on the outcome of a pending January ballot measure, that figure could yet shrink. At this time, we are "only" down 100 million from where we were last year.

Some school districts were able to retain programs and maintain their Full Time Music Employees; others experienced much greater cuts, losing, or cutting in half, programs like general elementary music; some districts saw parents and students rally their support, plead their case and even raise their own funds, restoring at least part of the music programs that had been identified for elimination. Our public school teachers were already stretched to find any money for expenses like instrument repair. It's not over either.

The budget the state passed this year was possible thanks due to an infusion of cash from: educational stability funding, stimulus funds, and the rainy day fund. The question is, what will happen when we don't have these resources to draw upon? The situation is much the same in Washington state. These are tough times.

The Portland Youth Philharmonic would like to help by keeping our students and their stories in the spotlight. We are conducting an ongoing effort to stay apprised of the current landscape of school music education. Please Ingrid Arnett, Community Relations Director, at ingrid@portlandyouthphil.org if you would like to contribute to our ongoing work in this area.

Success Stories

Read about success stories here. Learn from others how you can actively support school music programs.

Evergreen School District: http://www.savetheorchestra.org/

Do you have a success story?
Send us a link to your webpage and we will post it here so that others can hear about and learn from your experience.

Research

There is no easy way to chronicle the landscape of school music education. We decided to begin by simply trying to understand what programs are out there. Program data was requested from:

School Districts,
by County

Elementary gen music

Elementary band

Elementary strings

Middle School band

Middle School orchestra

High School band

High School orchestra

High School marching band

 

Clackamas County:

Canby - no data

                

Colton

*

 

 

*

 

*

 

 

Estacada

*

 

 

*

 

*

 

 

Gladstone

*

*

 

*

 

*

 

 

Lake Oswego

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

 

Molalla River - no data

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

North Clackamas

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

 

Oregon City

*

*

 

*

 

*

 

*

Oregon Trail

*

 

 

*

 

*

 

 

West Linn-Wilsonville

*

 

*

*

*

*

*

 


Multnomah County:

Centennial

*

 

 

*

 

*

 

 

Corbett

*

*

 

*

 

*

 

 

David Douglas

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

 

Gresham-Barlow

*

 

 

*

 

*

 

 

Parkrose

*

*

 

*

 

*

 

*

Portland

*

*

 

*

 

*

 

 

Reynolds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Riverdale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Washington County:

Banks

*

 

 

*

 

*

 

 

Beaverton

*

 

 

*

*

*

*

*

Forest Grove - no data

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gaston

*

*

 

*

 

*

 

 

Hillsboro- no data

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sherwood

*

 

 

*

 

*

*

*

Tigard-Tualatin

*

 

 

*

*

*

*

 


Clark County:

Battleground

*

 

 

*

 

*

 

 

Camas - no data

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evergreen

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

 

Hockinson

*

 

 

*

 

*

 

 

La Center

*

*

 

*

 

*

 

 

Ridgefield

*

*

 

*

 

*

 

 

Vancouver

*

 

*

*

*

*

*

 

Washougal

*

 

 

*

 

*

 

 


Yamhill County:

Newberg

*

 

 

*

*

*

*

 

1---middle/high school band teacher gives up his planning period to teach band to older elementary kids

What's next?

In the coming months, the PYP board will be exploring opportutnies to support music in the schools. If you want to contribute to the conversation in any way or be apprised of any updates in our research, please contact ingrid@portlandyouthphil.org.