Vancouver: Band and strings program granted temporary reprieve

Posted by Sheryl McGraw
May 5, 2010

Vancouver Technical’s concert band played composer John Philip Sousa’s The Liberty Bell march outside the Vancouver Art Gallery earlier this week during Music Monday–a Canada-wide event promoting music education in public schools.

An estimated 700,000 students from across the country participated, but the local performance underscored the Vancouver School Board’s struggle to maintain the district’s elementary band and strings program.

Last week, the board deferred passing its final 2010/11 budget until June, giving the program a temporary reprieve. The budget proposal suggested eliminating the program and cutting 8.7 full-time equivalent teachers to shave $589,077 off the budget, which faces a $16.33 million shortfall.

arts advocacy, arts and education, arts and youth

Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.

Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.