• Cost may kill NEISD School of the Arts

  • Web Posted: 01/13/2010 12:00 CST

    Cost may kill NEISD School of the Arts

  • Officials at North East Independent School District may ax one of the city’s most popular magnet school programs in an effort to save money.

  • Superintendent Richard Middleton told North East’s school board Monday night that he’ll look closely at the North East School of the Arts, housed at Lee High School, and come back with a recommendation in February that could range from severe cutbacks to shuttering the program.

    “I will never debate the fact that it’s a unique opportunity, a wonderful opportunity for children. But with the financial situation we’re facing, there’s a good likelihood that we’re going to have to make some significant decisions about NESA,” he said. “I say that with the greatest amount of reluctance.”

  • NESA is a magnet program for students who are gifted in the arts. Students must audition for a spot and can focus on one of seven majors, including musical theater, dance, voice and visual arts. NESA teachers also are working artists with significant training and experience in their disciplines.

  • NESA has the highest per-student cost at nearly $8,000. That’s about $1,500 more per student than the average high school cost in North East.

  • One of the reasons for the high price tag is an incredibly low student-to-teacher ratio. NESA’s small classes pull Lee High’s overall student-to-teacher ratio to about 12-to-1, the second-lowest ratio in the state when comparing high schools with at least 1,800 students.

  • The district is in the first phase of an ambitious cost-cutting plan, which includes slashing $27 million from next year’s budget.

  • For parents and students at NESA, the news that their program may be on the chopping block came as a shock.

    “She’s heartbroken,” Paul Tinder said of daughter Madison’s reaction.

    Madison, 15, is double majoring at NESA in musical theater and dance. Tinder is a board member of NESA Partners, a parent-run support group.

    “It’s not a school, it’s a community,” he said.Tinder said parents were expecting some changes in light of the budget situation, but nothing as dire as current predictions. He said NESA is too important to North East and to the city to give up.

    “There’s a synergy in the instruction that we haven’t experienced anywhere else. It’s very, very unique,” he said. “We just had a campus fair in October and we had some of the most prestigious universities and conservatory programs come and see our kids.”

  • Last year, NESA’s 71 graduates earned a combined $10 million in scholarships. York said 99.9 percent of NESA graduates go on to college and 99 percent pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills on the first try, with a large percentage scoring at the commended level.

  • NESA graduates have gone on to success on Broadway and with careers in television and film.

    Middleton, who started NESA 13 years ago, always has been a champion of the program and calls his position now a “dreadful decision.”

    “It’s being in a box that is very uncomfortable because we can’t find a way out,” he said.

    York holds out hope the program can be saved, but she knows cuts are coming in some form or another.

    “We are just being looked at, but I daresay NESA will not come out of this looking like it looks now — at best,” she said.

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