Some Ventura High School students -especially students with art related electives- have been talking about school funding for the Art program.
Photo by: Acacia Harrell
How much funding does an art teacher receive? Is it enough for their needs? Many students wonder what the answers to these questions are. Some even wonder why sports like football get so much more funding in relation to art.
“Typically I get, every year, what’s considered a department budget, from the school district, and that is very low, it comes out to something like a dollar fifty a kid,” stated art teacher Lauren Minadeo.
However, she went on to explain that this is not the only funding she receives. “I’ve been very fortunate, and so have all the other art teachers over the last couple years. The residents of ventura voted in what was called ‘Measure Q,’ now called ‘Measure R,’ and so over the last couple of years I have gotten a couple of thousand dollars to buy supplies…typically without that I do my own fundraising.”
On the topic of whether r or not Minadeo believes VHS supports its art program to its fullest potential, Minadeo stated “I think all elective programs struggle for funding, I have not found that, here at Ventura High school, that I’m not being supported.”
She even went on to say that most of the time when she asks for something, she receives it. She accredits the fact that the art program is not currently lacking supplies, to outside funding.
Minadeo talked about the difference between art and the Drama and Music programs, which is the ability to generate funds for their programs. With Drama productions and Benefit concerts, music teacher Paul Hunt and drama teacher Stefoni Rossiter often give money they raised to the art program, according to Minadeo.
Minadeo also added that the difference between Art, English, Math, or Science classes is the exhaustible resources -resources that can not be re-used throughout the year- such as paint and paper.
In relation to sports funding at VHS, Minadeo points out how much funding they receive because of how much sports, such as football, are able to generate.
“The more kids you have, the more money you get,” Minadeo said.
