Arts education has long been recognized by experts around the world as having a tremendously positive influence on children and their academic attainment, social emotional development and future employment. The skills learned from arts education are more relevant today than ever, as New York City’s economy is increasingly focused on industries that value creativity, innovation and problem solving.

Despite these widely-acknowledged benefits, as well as clearly established mandates in New York State Education Law requiring that students in grades 7-12 receive core arts instruction taught by certified teachers, the provision of arts education in New York City’s public schools has become both inequitable and underfunded. Instruction in visual arts, music, dance and theater has been weakened by a decade of disinvestment and disincentives and a school accountability system – based on federal and state priorities – that fails to fully recognize the value of comprehensive arts education.

Figures from the New York City Department of Education’s (DOE) Annual Arts in Schools Reports show a 47 percent decline in spending to hire arts and cultural organizations to provide educational services for students, and an even steeper decline in spending on arts supplies and equipment over the past seven years. While schools have had access to “supplemental arts funding” intended for arts education, many schools have opted to divert these funds to non-arts related areas.

As a result, many of the City’s public schools are in violation of New York State Law, which sets minimal instruction requirements that schools must meet for the arts at each grade level, and deep disparities exist between schools at all grade levels. This report provides a first-ever school-by-school breakdown of the state of arts education in the public schools, and contextualizes the results with data on the city’s economic landscape. Findings include:

• 419 schools in New York City (28 percent) lack even one full-time, certified arts teacher, including 20 percent of all high schools (76), 22 percent of all middle schools (59) and 38 percent of all elementary schools (232);
• 306 schools (20 percent) have neither a full- nor a part-time certified arts teacher, including 14 percent of all high schools (53), 13 percent of all middle schools (34) and 30 percent of all elementary schools (182); and
• 16 percent of schools have no arts or cultural partnerships and 10 percent of schools have no dedicated arts room.

Furthermore, it is clear that reductions in arts education have fallen disproportionately on the City’s lower income neighborhoods, especially the South Bronx and Central Brooklyn. While these two neighborhoods are home to just 31 percent of all City schools, this report found that:

• More than 42 percent of schools that lack either full-time or part-time certified arts teachers are located in the South Bronx and Central Brooklyn; and
• Nearly half of the schools that lack both a certified arts teacher and an arts or cultural partnership are located in the South Bronx and Central Brooklyn.

With new leadership at the New York City Department of Education, now is an ideal time to identify challenges that exist to meeting State arts mandates and expanding arts education to all City neighborhoods, and offer recommendations for achieving these goals. In the cultural capital of the world, arts education and the opportunities it provides must be equally accessible to all. [Executive Summary, p. 1-2]

Despite core arts instruction mandates, arts education in New York City’s public schools has become inequitable and underfunded. Arts instruction has been weakened by disinvestments and disincentives due to federal and state accountability systems that fail to recognize the value of the arts. This report shows a 47% decline in spending to hire arts and cultural organizations for educational services, and even steeper declines in spending on arts supplies and equipment. Many schools use supplemental arts funding for non-arts related areas. Many city schools are in violation of the state’s laws, creating deep disparities between schools. 419 (28%) schools lack one full-time, certified arts teacher, and 306 (20%) schools have neither a full nor part time certified teacher. More than 42% of schools that lack either full or part time teachers are located in South Bronx and Central Brooklyn. This report suggests the Department of Education to broaden the accountability framework, build school capacity to have at least one arts teacher, expand outreach to potential cultural partners, and ensure adequate funding to support quality arts education in all city schools.