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NYC Arts in Education Roundtable

Written Testimony to the New York City Council Committee on Education — May 15, 2024

4 minutes

Testimony to the New York City Council Committee on Education & Committee on Finance
Hon. Rita Joseph, Chair
Hon. Justin Brannan, Chair
Hearing: Executive Budget Hearing
Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Thank you to Chair Joseph, Chair Brannan, fellow Committee Members and Council staff, for your passion, leadership, and support of arts education in New York City. 

My name is Kimberly Olsen, and I am the Executive Director of the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable. I’m testifying as part of the It Starts with the Arts coalition — calling on our city to prioritize funding for arts education in NYC schools and communities in the FY25 budget.

We are grateful for the City Council’s support for arts education in the budget response and most recently with the $41M restoration of expiring federal stimulus funding. Opportunities like this mean:

Improving academic outcomes 
Preparing students to enter the workforce
Increasing parent involvement and student attendance
Giving students space to develop empathy and critical thinking skills

It all starts with the arts.

Yet, in NYC, arts education is historically underfunded, inconsistent, and inequitable. One third of NYC middle school students are meeting learning requirements in the arts. Instructional hours in the arts vary greatly at the elementary school level. And for the first time since at least 2016, there were NYC High School graduates who did NOT meet the state arts learning requirements.

Most concerning, we learned at the last hearing that currently 307 schools do not have an arts teacher. In 2014, NYC released its State of the Arts report, providing a first-ever school-by-school breakdown of the state of arts education in NYC public schools. In that report, we learned 306 schools did not have a certified arts teacher. 10 years later the number of schools without arts teachers remains the same. Our young people deserve better.

Back in 2014, that lack of access fell disproportionately on the City’s lower income neighborhoods, especially the South Bronx and Central Brooklyn. Unfortunately, we don’t know which schools are impacted now unless transparency and policy is introduced. 

A bright spot is that over 600 arts and cultural organizations partnered with NYC schools last year (the most ever). It should be no surprise that this spike in service coincided with a $45M add-on in funds to the Department of Cultural Affairs and increase in the Support for Arts Instruction Initiative. Yet, in this interconnected ecosystem, this year we are seeing first-hand how cuts to the Department of Cultural Affairs deeply harm cultural organization’s ability to provide resources and partner with schools. 

Arts Teachers and Cultural Organizations are essential partners in the delivery of arts instruction. But they can’t do that without sustainable funding — otherwise we stand to only widen the access gap for years to come. 

New York City must ensure that our schools offer all students the rigor, encouragement, and inspiration they need to learn and thrive in today’s classroom. To lay the groundwork for universal access to arts education, the City must:

  • Hire certified arts teachers in every school ($38M): Ensure that all schools have at least one certified arts teacher, by bolstering the pipeline of certified arts teachers via supplemental certification program and filling arts staffing gaps (closing the equity gap for at least 307 schools).
  • Require DOE arts funding be spent on the arts ($15M): Boost the per student arts allocation to $100 from $80.47, and require that money be spent on arts education.
  • Baseline the $41M arts funding restoration: Ensure arts education programs on the chopping block due to continue for years to come, including arts initiatives, programming to support student social-emotional wellbeing and academic recovery through the arts, and Summer Rising.
  • Restore and Enhance “Support for Arts Instruction” initiative funding: Build on city’s down payment and boost allocation from $4M to $6M.
  • Improve data transparency by compelling NYC Public Schools to provide a school-by-school breakdown of the state of arts education in public schools via a Legislative Services Request, T&C, and/or Oversight Hearing.
  • Restore and Baseline Funding for the Department of Cultural Affairs: Reverse November ($20M) and preliminary budget cuts to DCLA ($15.5M) and restore/baseline one-time addition of $45M to Cultural Institutions Group and all cultural organizations across the city.

Our city’s young people represent the future of our city. Please prioritize investment in arts education because that future starts with the arts. 

Thank you for your attention and consideration.

Kimberly Olsen
Executive Director
NYC Arts in Education Roundtable