Discussion

Arts education in schools should be a part of the curriculum and not viewed as an add-on. Many schools that lack the resources become a model of displaced school funding. Opportunities should be available for students to learn the expressive scope of education.  Reflecting on the situational context earlier in the study, many schools that have cut their fine arts and related budgets have been in urban areas and sometimes never recover. In the St. Louis areas, the schools that have thriving fine arts departments did not experience cuts in highly measurable regard. These schools are largely suburban and middle-class areas on average. All children deserve the opportunity to participate in the same programs offered in other public schools regardless of their socioeconomic background. "Arts education enables those children from a financially challenged background to have a more level playing field with children who have had those enrichment experiences,'' (Cooper,  2021, p. 1).