Superintendent Jerry Wartgow today announced results of a detailed review of plans for distributing money targeted to boost arts and music instruction in elementary schools across the district.

Denver voters last November overwhelmingly approved a $20 million mill levy proposal, which included $6.5 million to begin rebuilding the district’s elementary arts program.
Changes directed by Superintendent Wartgow will yield a dramatic increase in arts and music instruction at every elementary school in the district.

In all, 90.25 new full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers, funded with mill levy dollars, will be provided for the 89 elementary schools. (Another 7.5 teachers will also be funded with the mill levy dollars and hired directly by charter schools.)

In combination with art teachers paid through school general fund dollars, the net result is a total art and music teacher workforce of 143.75 to provide vocal music, instrumental music, dance, drama and visual art instruction.

“When we launched the review, we started from scratch in our thinking and approach on how best to distribute these funds,” said Superintendent Wartgow. “We appreciate the thoughtful assistance of the Arts Resource Council and many other concerned individuals for bringing this issue forward and working with us as we analyzed this issue from the ground up. The result is complete fulfillment of the promise to voters and a fair balance in each school’s educational program.”

Last month, district staff reported to the Board of Education that many schools requested and received permission to adjust their general fund spending on arts programs in light of enrollment declines and budget reductions.

Some schools were funding arts programs with temporary grants or private money, for instance. In many of those cases, schools requested and received permission to shift the support of their arts programs from private dollar or grant sources to the dependable mill levy revenue stream. Putting these sources aside, every school will be offering more arts instruction next year.

“These requests were submitted by schools and grew out of their budget planning,” said Superintendent Wartgow. “As requests were forwarded, we gave schools the benefit of the doubt that the adjustments were being made in the spirit of adding the new mill levy money while maintaining a balanced program for students.

“However, members of the Board of Education and ultimately the Arts Resource Council appropriately questioned whether the result yielded a comprehensive arts program at each school. We agreed that the issue was worth another look.”

Superintendent Wartgow emphasized, however, that at no point in time was permission ever granted to change the way mill levy dollars were to be programmed. “From day one, these dollars were given to schools with one simple purpose – to pay for new arts and music teachers. No questions, no discussion,” said Superintendent Wartgow. “The confusion came as we discussed with schools the possibility of making changes in their entire school budget, particularly in light of budget reductions and enrollment declines. We did a poor job communicating what adjustments were actually being considered.”

Initially, 32 of the district’s 89 elementary schools were granted permission to adjust their base 2003-2004 budgets prior to adding new mill levy resources. (In many of the 32 schools, the equivalent of a .5 full-time or .25 full-time teacher was being considered for adjustment, meaning the number of schools initially given permission to adjust their base funding was much larger than the actual number of full-time teachers.)

Following Superintendent Wartgow’s review:

• Nineteen of the 32 schools next year will maintain their school’s 2003-2004 general fund support for arts and music instruction and add new teachers with the new mill levy funds.
• One school will restore part of its 2003-2004 general fund support for arts and music instruction and add a new teacher with the new mill levy funds.
• Another six schools had already met the requirements and need not have applied for the permission to adjust their base, Wartgow determined, since they were moving arts instruction funding from grants or privately-raised funds to the mill levy sources.
• Of the final six schools (Asbury, Barrett, Smedley, Smith, Whiteman and Wyman), four have small enrollments and could not have scheduled more full-time arts teachers, said Wartgow. Two schools, Smedley and Smith, had an established and strong arts effort. However, even these six schools will add .5 or .75 arts FTE over what they were offering in 2003-2004.

For the 20 schools with readjusted budgets (including the one with partial restoration of its 2003-2004 general fund spending), arts will be restored through a combination of existing general fund dollars (those already allocated to the school) and mill levy dollars. The mill levy budget included a contingency account that will be largely depleted. Providing the additional resources for the 20 schools requires 13 FTE. Of those 13, nine are being paid with the use of mill levy contingency dollars and the other four are being paid by readjusting school budgets.

"We raised the issue to the Board of Education and the Superintendent, and the points have been addressed - every one of them,” said Clark Strickland, chair of the Arts Resource Council, which was appointed by the Board of Education to monitor arts instruction and arts related issues.

“There is no question now that what was intended by the voters is being met to the letter and the spirit of the ballot language,” Strickland added. “We appreciate being heard, and the quick response from the district is really a mark of strength that shows a willingness to listen and make changes. Next year will be a wonderful year for arts in elementary schools. Students should eagerly anticipate a rich and rewarding arts experience that will begin the process of restoring a critical component of their education.”

For more information, contact the DPS Public Information Office at 720-423-3414.