Just 8 percent of city elementary schools met state requirements for arts instruction in the 2007-08 school year, according to a new report.
And that figure was double what it had been the prior year, when only 4 percent of schools offered dance, music, theater and visual-arts classes to students, as required.
The gains were more substantial for the city’s middle schools, however, with 46 percent of schools meeting state instruction mandates last year – up from 29 percent in 2006-07.
Arts participation also increased in high schools, ranging from gains of 5 percentage points for students taking arts classes in 11th grade to gains of 10 percentage points for students in ninth and 12th grades.
City and education officials hailed the overall increase in participation documented in the second annual Arts in Schools report – an initiative that was designed to both account for and boost student engagement in the arts.
“This year, we saw more schools offer more art to more children, and we’re going to keep building on that progress,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
But advocates for arts instruction in schools said they were disappointed by the city’s poor standing on state standards, and they voiced particular concern about how arts spending would be affected by the city’s economic downturn.
Even with the modest gains in arts instruction from 2006-07 to last year, average arts spending over the same period decreased from 3.1 percent of a school’s budget to 2.9 percent.
“With budgets being slashed this year and presumably next year, and an increased focus on testing and test preparation, there is a fear that arts education will disappear from the schools,” said Richard Kessler, executive director of the Center for Arts Education.
Arts organizations are still smarting from the city’s decision in 2006 to dismantle a longstanding funding program known as Projects Arts, which guaranteed that certain sums would be devoted to art instruction.