October 2013
NEWS
The Southwest Portland Post • 3
Southwest elementary school students get increased arts funding, more classes
ARTS EDUCATION
By Melinda Hasting
Special to The Southwest Portland Post
Opportunities for arts instruc-
tion for students in Southwest
Portland increased in each public
elementary school in the Portland
Public Schools (PPS) system this
fall.
The controversial Portland Arts
Tax passed by voters last Novem-
ber has survived legal challenges,
thus allowing the distribution of
approximately $4.5 million for PPS
to hire arts teachers this year.
Local elementary schools were
informed of the new funding just
before the onset of fall classes. All
elementary schools were to be im-
pacted, according to PPS.
The $35 per person tax generated
between $9.9 and $10.8 million in
collected revenue by the City, ac-
cording to Mayor Charlie Hales’
office, an amount that was over
$1 million less than officials had
projected.
The Portland City Council agreed
to disburse the originally budgeted
funds for the Art Education Access
Fund to local school districts. PPS,
the largest school district in the
Pacific Northwest, will receive the
bulk of the revenue.
Here in Southwest, Maplewood
Elementary School received fund-
ing to hire one half-time music
teacher to teach students in grades
K-5. The teacher hired by Maple-
wood Elementary also teaches half
time in Southeast Portland’s Kelly
Elementary.
Maplewood Principal Annie Tab-
shy said she is grateful. “We feel
blessed to provide all 330 of our
students with the opportunity for
music instruction twice a week,”
she said.
Other neighborhood elementary
schools, Stephenson and Capitol
Hill, both received additional
funding for arts teachers from the
Fund. Stephenson has a music
teacher and also offers orchestra
and choir; Capitol Hill now has a
full-time art teacher.
Southwest is also home to the
high-performing Jackson Middle
School, whose focus on arts and
music through the implementation
of The Bernstein Artful Method of
Learning is highly regarded.
Though middle schools will not
receive additional funding from
the arts tax, elementary schools
like Maplewood will now have
opportunities to instill passion for
the arts in the primary grades.
Markham Elementary School
received funding to hire music in-
structor David Erickson full time.
In addition, the school will
partner with local puppet theater,
Tears of Joy Theatre Company,
to provide kindergarten through
second graders with puppet mak-
ing and performance instruction.
Older students will participate in
a ten-day intensive performance
residency.
Markham School is a participant
in The Right Brain Initiative, a pro-
gram launched in 2008 in response
to arts funding cuts in local public
schools. The initiative incorporates
Wilson Cross Country Spaghetti Feed
the arts into children’s daily learn-
ing processes through the core
curricular subjects.
Both Markham and Jackson
schools’ programs seek to improve
students’ performance in the
STEM subjects (science, technol-
ogy, engineering and math) by
weaving arts activities into the
hard sciences (STEAM).
The idea is gaining ground
throughout the country as private
sector employers claim shortages
in American STEM job candidates.
The National Science Foundation
and National Endowment for the
Arts, along with members of Con-
gress, have expressed support for
the concepts of ingenuity and cre-
ativity as important components
for the future economy.
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Local residents Stu and Judy Ellis hosted Wilson High School Cross Country Team's
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