For Immediate Release
July 27, 2006
38 School Districts in Illinois to Receive State Funding
to Strengthen Their Arts Education and Foreign Language
Programs
Springfield, IL – The Illinois State Board of
Education (ISBE), in partnership with the Illinois Arts
Council, recently awarded grants totaling more than $1.1
million to 38 school districts across Illinois to strengthen
their arts education and foreign language programs.
The funding, appropriated in the State of Illinois FY06
budget, will assist school districts with engaging in
a planning process to develop new or strengthen existing
arts education and foreign language curricula. The grants
ranged in size from $12,000 to $40,000 depending on the
size of the district, the scope of the program and the
level of planning required.
“This was a very competitive grant process and
only school districts that met the criteria and demonstrated
they had the ability to complete the planning and sustain
their program were awarded funding. We hope this funding
will jump start the arts education or foreign language
program in those districts that receive funding. We also
believe that through this process we will be able to
identify model arts education or foreign language programs
that can be replicated throughout the state,” said
Illinois School Superintendent Randy Dunn.
The announcement of the $1.1 million in grants was made
during the two-day (July 25 and 26) Illinois Alliance
for Arts Education conference held at Princeton High
School. IAAE is the principal arts education organization
in Illinois whose main purpose is to ensure high quality
comprehensive arts education for all children in the
state.
In October 2005, Illinois Creates, a statewide arts
education coalition led by the Illinois Arts Alliance,
released the results of a groundbreaking study that revealed
broad disparities in the amount of arts education students
receive across the state. The study found that 20 percent
of Illinois principals reported having no arts program
of any kind in their school.
The Illinois Creates study was confirmed by new research
released on March 28, 2006 by the Center on Education
Policy in Washington, D.C. that found that since the
passage of the federal No Child Left Behind law, 71 percent
of the nation's 15,000 school districts had reduced the
hours of instructional time spent on history, music and
other subjects to open up more time for reading and math.
To demonstrate its commitment to the arts and foreign
languages as core learning areas, the ISBE, in partnership
with the Illinois Arts Council, developed the Arts and
Foreign Language grant program. The Illinois Arts Alliance
and the Illinois Council on Teaching Foreign Languages
played significant roles in working with ISBE and the
Illinois Arts Council to design the program to award
this state funding.
In FY2006, Illinois passed a $2 million budget appropriation
for arts education and foreign language. Then again in
FY2007, ISBE proposed, the state legislature passed and
Gov. Blagojevich approved an increase in the appropriation
to $4 million.
“The arts are a powerful engine in developing
students' creative faculties, dramatically increasing
their desire and ability to learn,” said Terry
A. Scrogum, Executive Director, Illinois Arts Council. “The
Illinois Arts Council considers this new partnership
with the Illinois State Board of Education a significant
step toward ensuring the arts are an influential part
of every Illinois student's education. We look forward
to working together and empowering Illinoisans through
arts and education to achieve their greatest potential – both
in school and throughout their lives,” he said.
For three days in June a panel of 28 arts education
and foreign language experts met in Springfield to review
proposals received from 69 school districts (45 applied
for arts funding, 21 for foreign language and 3 for both
arts and foreign language). After thoroughly reviewing
each application, the group of arts education and foreign
language experts individually scored each applicant based
on criteria outlined in the grant application.
School districts awarded grants demonstrated a great
need for additional funding for their arts education
and foreign language programs and the ability to successfully
develop a comprehensive plan to strengthen their arts
education or foreign language programs. Grant recipients
also detailed plans to implement their plans in future
years with local funds. Chicago Public Schools is the
only district to be awarded two grants – one for
arts education and one for foreign languages.
Funding in subsequent years will be contingent upon
a sufficient appropriation for the program and satisfactory
progress in the preceding grant period.
SCHOOL DISTRICTS AWARDED GRANTS
- Chicago Public Schools District 299
- Alton CUSD 11
- Schaumburg CCSD 54
- Warren THSD 121
- Mount Vernon City Schools, District
80
- Rockford Public Schools 205
- Community Unit School
District 300
- Aurora West Unit School District 129
- West Central
CUSD 235 (Biggsville)
- Community Consolidated School
District 59
- Sterling CUSD 5
- Edwardsville Community Unit School
District 7
- Carbondale Elementary District 95
- Champaign CUSD 4
- Salem Community High School 600
- Matteson SD 162
- DeSoto CCSD 86
- Midwest Central CUSD 191
- Lincoln CUSD 404
- Lewistown District 97
- Riverton CUSD 14
- Deerfield District 109
- Palos CCSD 118
- Trico Unit District 176
- Woodstock CUSD 200
- Blue Ridge CUSD 8
- Kewanee CUSD 229
- Moline School District 40
- Wauconda CUSD 118
- O'Fallon Community Consolidated
District 90
- Hononegah CHSD 207
- Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville
- Burbank
School District 111
- Raccoon CSD 1
- Ridgeland School District 122
- Kings Community School
District 144
- Egyptian CUSD 5
- Bellwood School District 88
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