Funding
for After-School Programs May Be At Risk
The role of
Parents of Performing Arts (PARTS) is to support theatre programs in the
Belmont Public Schools. We
want to share how
important all after-school activities are, and give you a little
information about challenges our school system
faces in
continuing to provide them.
Belmont matches
the academic excellence of its schools with an extraordinary set of
after-school programs. These
programs capture
the imagination and energy of our students. More than 7 out of 10 high
schoolers participate in one or
more school-based
sports, clubs, musical ensembles, dance, and theatre programs. In these
programs our children find their
passions, their
friendships, learn teamwork and collaboration, find excellence that they did
not know they had in themselves.
These programs are
among our town's jewels. And these programs - all of them - are at grave risk.
Extreme financial pressure
has forced our
school committee to consider eliminating public funding for all after school
activities. No one wants to cut them,
but unless new
revenues are identified, there simply aren't enough tax dollars to keep core
academic programs intact, let alone
after-school
theatre, music, clubs, and sports. This would be a devastating loss to our
schools, to our children, to our town.
The school
committee has asked a group of people who support after school activities –
people who support athletics,
music, theatre,
and many other activities - to find combinations of fees and donations that
will save these programs next year,
and save them in a
way that is fair to all students regardless of financial means.
