VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — As the Virginia Beach School Board makes its budget for next year, it's preparing to work with a two-cent tax reduction proposed by city council, Now, parents are concerned about what this could mean for fine arts classes.
"Whatever budget cuts need to happen, we have to protect our music programs. We have to," one speaker at Tuesday night's school board meeting said.
Not just parents, but teachers and former students are urging the school board to leave classes like band and chorus alone when it comes to potential cuts.
"It disappoints me and frustrates me you guys want to cut the fine arts program funding and jobs," a speaker said.
According to division superintendent Dr. Donald Robertson, they're not targeting any specific course, but are instead looking at students' interests.
"We are not cutting fine arts programs," Robertson said. "We have had a staffing reduction at the secondary level and all of our secondary schools based upon available funding. When principals get their allocations, they have to go through course enrollment based upon student interests, and we have in all of our courses what we call 'floors.'"
Those floors mean in order for a class to make it, there has to be enough student interest in the course.
Robertson said as of this time, there are a number of elective courses where that number has not been met.
Those teachers have been emailed about being on a priority transfer list and may need to float between schools to remain full-time.
"At this point, if a teacher has been told that their course didn't make then no one is losing their positions, they might just have to be asked to work in more than one building," Robertson said.
The Virginia Beach Education Association has concerns for teachers with this method.
One is the stress it puts on teachers by not having a home base, and allowing them to grow their programs as students make their way through school.
Recruiting students for their courses is one recommendation Robertson made.
"We are all huge fans about the arts because they complete a school, but we're in a situation where decisions have to be made, and in those decisions, if a course is made and the kids sign up, we're going to offer it," Robertson said. "If it hasn't, then it is incumbent upon the teacher to get the course up to the number of requisite students to offer it."
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Some school board members are concerned with how difficult it could be for a teacher to split their time between two schools.
"For somebody who is teaching half a day at high school 'A' and half a day at high school 'B,' how do you choose to highlight all of those students?" Kim Melnyk said.
Robertson said nothing is set in stone just yet and encourages parents to speak with their students to make sure they are enrolled in a course they really want next year.
