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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Education bill will require students to select arts

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By Lindsay Kastner

Contributing Writer

North Carolina public school students in grades 6-12 could soon be required to take at least one course in the arts before graduating if state lawmakers approve House Bill 138, which is currently working its way through the legislature.

Supporters of arts education say it can foster creativity, motivate students, improve performance in core subjects like reading and math and even help lower the dropout rate.

“But it’s not available in every school,” said State Rep. Becky Carney, D-Mecklenburg. “It’s one of the first things that gets cut when there are budget cuts.”

Carney is one of the primary sponsors of HB 138.  She said arts education sparks the kind of innovation that employers look for in job applicants and can provide otherwise lagging students with a reason to stay in school.

“The impact of arts education on our students is so overwhelming,” Carney said. “I just feel it’s important that every child in this state have that access and with the requirement they would.”

Carney recalled a time when, as a county commissioner, she received a letter from a middle school teacher who pleaded with her to help save a music program that was threated by budget cuts.

The teacher described a student on the verge of dropping out of school. He had little interest in his classes, but loved to sing.

“She went to the principal and got him to allow him to sing the morning announcements,” Carney said. “And he stayed in school.”

Currently North Carolina Department of Instruction data reveals only five local school districts have an arts education requirement for high school graduation: Burke County, Columbus County, Newton-Conover City, Pitt County and Rowan-Salisbury.

New Hanover County has no such requirement, but school board chairman Donald Hayes said he has no problem with the bill.

“To me it sounds good,” Hayes said. “I think the arts play a very important role in a child’s education.”

Both here and across the state, enrollment in arts courses is widespread. But proponents of the arts worry with no state requirement, course offerings could be squeezed out by budget cuts or simply by a greater focus on core subjects like reading and math.

“In some places they’re really doing great and providing students with what they need and in other places they’re just not,” said Karen Wells, executive director of the advocacy group ARTS North Carolina.

Wells said HB 138 is not about allowing the state government to encroach on local school board authority but is “simply stating what a complete education is.”

She noted the bill is intentionally broad, leaving the state board of education to determine implementation, which could include courses taken outside of a school setting, such as those offered by a local museum.

The bill has so far received bipartisan support and easily passed the House by a vote of 96-21.

All of the House members in New Hanover and the surrounding counties voted in favor of the bill, but its passage in the Senate is not yet certain.

“We do have concerns as to what the outcome will be,” Wells said.

A similar bill passed the House during the last biennium, before languishing in the Senate. Supporters are hopeful that HB 138, which is currently in the Senate Committee on Rules and Operations, won’t meet the same fate.

“The bad move is it’s sitting in Rules in the Senate, which means it probably won’t get heard,” said Rep. Susi Hamilton, D-Brunswick, New Hanover, a supporter of the bill.

But Carney said she’s optimistic the bill will pass in the Senate as well.

“We feel confident that we’ve got a good, flexible bill with buy-in from all stakeholders,” she said. “I feel confident this time. But I’ve been wrong before.”

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