NEWS

Fine arts or career ed for Arizona college admission?

Anne Ryman
The Republic | azcentral.com
Amarrii Aegelman, 16, sews during a fashion class at East Valley Institute of Technology in Mesa.
  • Arizona universities now require one credit of fine arts for admission.
  • Bill would allow students to sub CTE credit for fine arts
  • Arts advocates oppose the change%3B proponents say it gives students flexibility

Right now, students need to take a fine-arts credit in high school, like a year of dance or theater, as part of the admission requirements to Arizona's three state universities.

But a bill in the Arizona Legislature would allow them to substitute a credit of career or technical education, like construction or computer programming, with the goal of giving students more flexibility to get into college.

House Bill 2261, which is actively moving through the Legislature, is getting heat from arts advocates who worry that allowing substitutes will act as a disincentive for some high schools to offer fine arts.

The potential change comes at a time when arts education is already struggling to compete for funds in some cash-strapped school districts, the advocates say.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Rusty Bowers, R-Mesa, said his reasons for introducing the legislation stem from when he worked at the East Valley Institute of Technology. The school provides career and technical education to high-school students in 10 East Valley school districts.

Career and technical education, formerly called vocational and technical education, is known as CTE. The programs cover a variety of fields, including robotics engineering, welding, fire science and early-childhood education. Medical programs include nursing assistant, veterinary assistant and pharmacy technician.

Nearly 90,000 high-school students enroll in CTE programs around the state, according to the most recent figures from the Association for Career and Technical Education of Arizona. They don't need a fine-arts credit to graduate high school, but they do to get into one of Arizona's universities.

Many of the CTE students find it difficult to earn a fine-arts credit with all the demands on their schedules, Bowers said. About a quarter of the students at East Valley take summer school classes to fit in all the requirements.

The bill has strong support among career and technical educators such as Chuck McCollum, who oversees 30 CTE programs for the Tucson Unified School District.

The fine arts are great, he said, "but for some kids, maybe that's not the way they want to go."

How do students feel?

Some students can't imagine the high school without taking fine arts.

Arizona State University junior Matt McClintock reflected on his high-school years as he sat outside ASU's Music Building with a friend this week.

He took band and jazz band all four years of high school. He believes all students should take some fine arts.

The arts foster creativity, he said, and allow students to meet groups of people with shared interests.

"There's a community with it," said the 20-year-old, who switched majors from music to engineering and back to music again.

McClintock, like arts advocates, worries that changing the university requirement will mean less emphasis on the arts in high school.

"People need to see the importance in the arts," he said.

But high-school senior Maddie Lollar, 17, of Gilbert said she wishes she would have had the option to use a career-ed credit toward college. She's taking an online class after school so she can fit in all her required classes plus enroll in a fashion, interiors and textiles program at the East Valley Institute of Technology.

"It would be good not to be so busy," she said as she pieced together the straps of a halter top she was sewing in preparation for a fashion show.

Of course, any change would come too late to benefit her, "but I have a little sister (a freshman) who wants to come to EVIT" and could use the career-ed credit.

Arts advocates worry

Arts advocates are concerned that the bill creates the perception that arts are optional, when fine arts have long been considered the core of a liberal-arts curriculum.

Rusty Foley is executive director of Arizona Citizens for the Arts, which represents 90 arts organizations. She said she can appreciate the desire to give students more choices.

The state's high-school graduation requirements include seven elective credits, she said, so there are already choices within those credits for students to take CTE courses.

Ryan Mehler, 19, works on an outfit during class at EVIT. A new bill would let high-schoolers substitute a career and technical education credit for the fine-arts graduation requirement.

"There is quite a bit of flexibility in the system already," she said.

Foley said many in the arts community don't yet know about the bill. She predicts there will be "great concern" once more people get wind of the legislation.

Bowers, the bill's sponsor, said there needs to be more flexibility when it comes to college admission.

He said he majored in fine arts in college and is an artist who draws, paints and sculpts. But he said he doesn't believe that allowing students to substitute credits would hurt arts programs.

Decisions on what subjects to offer are made at the local school-district level, he said.

"If parents want the arts, they are going to have them," he said.

The Arizona Board of Regents, which oversee the universities, hasn't taken a position on the legislation yet. The regents are monitoring the bill and have been talking to Bowers, Regents President Eileen Klein said.

She said there are a large number of career and technical courses, and if passed into law, the regents would need to determine which ones would fulfill admission requirements. The goal would be to pick courses that best qualify students for college-level work.

"We want multiple pathways but want to make sure students are prepared," she said.

The state universities do have some leeway now if students don't have a fine-arts credit. Students can still be admitted without all the 16 required credits, but the decision is at the university's discretion.

College-admission requirements vary when it comes to fine arts. Of the 15 state research universities that Arizona State University considers to be peers, five require fine arts as part of admission.

Once in college, a student may or may not need to take a fine-arts class as part of the requirements for a bachelor's degree. It depends on the academic major.

At ASU, for example, undergraduate students are required to take at least six credit hours of humanities, fine arts or design courses.

HB 2261 has already passed the House and is being considered in the Senate.

Reach the reporter at anne.ryman@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8072.

McKenzie Dickman, 18, works on a interior design during a Fashion, Interiors and Textiles class at East Valley Institute of Technology in Mesa on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015.