Dive Brief:

• Thin school budgets have pushed music education to the margins, but some districts are getting creative about keeping music and arts in place.
• District and school administrators are seeking out big grants, such as the $1.5 million offered by the VH1 Save the Music Foundation — but this often requires a prior commitment to music instruction, from hiring teachers to running programs.
• Others are scrapping together spare funds from pots intended for technology or using crowdfunding sites to pay for programs.

Dive Insight:

According to District Administration, the average music program costs about $187 a year per student. Alongside other programs, those costs can quickly mount for a district. Still, though they’ve slipped to the edges of educational priorities, the arts can be a key way for students to develop creativity and social emotional skills. There are some unusual ways for schools to reintroduce those missing courses, such as finding community partners and pushing for arts-related accountability.

Whether the barrier is money, time or staffing, District Administration reports that experts caution patience: “It starts with a commitment. You must find the money, and allocate the money, year after year,” Mary Luehrsen, executive director of the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation, told the magazine.