INDIANAPOLIS — As budgets tighten in educational settings, art and music programs often find themselves on the chopping block. However, Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is focused on preserving education in the arts despite a challenging financial future for public schools across the state.
Arts education can often be overlooked, but at James Whitcomb Riley Elementary School, it is a top priority. This focus on the arts is one reason why the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus made a stop at the school.
Ten-year-old Alonzo Brown, a fourth grader at James Whitcomb Riley, loves music. He also loves that music is integrated into his daily school lessons. A change he was eager to talk about.
"It's like mind blowing how this school has changed the last couple of months, and I love it now,” he said.
This academic year marks the first time that James Whitcomb Riley has been designated a Visual Performing Arts School. The school received a $10,000 grant to further develop its arts education offerings, which includes a visit from the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, where students will have the opportunity to record a song and create a music video.
"It will help us with maintaining our instruments and making sure that we can purchase music and sound tracks for different performances we will have throughout the school year," Crishell Sam, principal at James Whitcomb Riley School said. "It is just a great opportunity for us to not just have something but sustain the offerings we have here for our students."
IPS will have tough decisions to make in the future. The property tax bill, SEA 1, requires some districts in the state to share property tax dollars with charter schools. IPS is one of them. State Senator Andrea Hunley attended the event and highlighted one decision that has already been made.
"The related art teachers, you can see that now for next school year they are being split across buildings so no longer will they be able to stay at one school or one building but they are having to move across schools," State Senator Andrea Hunley, a Democrat representing Indianapolis, said. "So we see that programs are being affected. "
While it's too soon to know what IPS will do, the principal at James Whitcomb Riley says she's looking forward to the future.
"People seeing that this is being offered here at James Whitcomb Riley will attract more students to come in and join us," Sam said. "We are excited about growing our student population."
IPS says the decision to share teachers across schools was made before SEA 1, the property tax bill, was signed into law. According to IPS these sharing of resources won't cause any jobs to be eliminated or reduction of academic programs. School 43 is not one of the schools impacted either. The district says it is committed to arts education. Right now, James Whitcomb Riley has about 300 students attending.
IPS sent the following information regarding the decision to related arts courses in the district:
The decision by the district to shift some related arts teachers to provide instruction across two schools for the 2025-26 school year impacts eight (8) schools. However, this shift does not impact the related arts courses or curriculum that students receive or the amount of instructional time per week. The goal is to optimize the time related arts teachers spend teaching by adjusting how they are scheduled across schools.
This change was made in conjunction with a district-wide staffing decision to require interventionist support and literacy coach roles in schools to support our current literacy instructional priority.
Key Points:
- No Change to Student Schedules – Students will continue receiving the same elective courses with the same amount of instructional time.
- Possible Change in Teacher Assignment – Some students may have a different related arts teacher next year. However, the curriculum and quality of instruction will remain consistent.
- Job Security for Teachers – Any teacher displaced from a specific school due to this change will still have a position within the district if they choose to stay.
- Continued Extracurricular Opportunities – We will continue offering after-school clubs and team activities to support student growth and development beyond the classroom.
- No Reduction in Access to Related Arts — Having access to music, physical education (PE), art, and computer science is a key commitment of Rebuilding Stronger and that commitment remains the same.
The district is not planning to terminate or release any certified teachers currently in these roles. All impacted teachers have been notified that they will have a position within the district next school year, if they choose to stay. Teachers were notified early so that they are equipped with the information they need to make an informed decision regarding their next steps.
Historically, IPS has shared teachers between buildings. This is a practice that has been in place for years and helps us maintain our commitment to providing all students with access to a well-rounded education. By partnering two schools together, we will be able to maximize our resources and support other areas of need within the school.
We are confident this adjustment will allow our teachers to maximize instructional time while maintaining the engaging and high-quality related arts education our students enjoy.
