Following the funding

By Elaine Jiang

Musicians from across the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District (BRSSD), Carlmont High School, and other local groups came together for the 19th annual Celebrate the Music Festival to showcase their talents.

SchoolForce holds the event every year to highlight the programs it fundraises for, including the BRSSD elementary and middle school music programs.

The festival began 21 years ago; there were two years without a festival due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when funding for BRSSD programs was low.

“At that point, the budget was so tight that they were right on the brink of eliminating elementary instrumental music from the school district. That was when people from SchoolForce decided that we had to have a special event that would focus on sustaining that funding over the years,” said Ardythe Andrews, the executive director of SchoolForce.

Scarce funding for schools in California dates back much farther though, to 1978, when California passed Proposition 13, which set all assessed property values, or base year values, to their 1975 market rate. It also made it so that properties are not reassessed for their base year value until the property undergoes construction or is sold. Property taxes are collected on the base year value.

“I live in Belmont and have a lovely neighbor, but she's 89 and pays $722 a year in property tax on a $3 million home. If someone today bought a $3 million house, they would pay approximately 1% of that, or $30,000 in property tax,” Andrews said.

Additionally, Proposition 13 set property taxes at 1% of the base year value. Additional taxes can be added, but they must be locally approved taxes, called parcel taxes. Communities have increasingly turned to parcel taxes to make up for limited funding, but passing a parcel tax can be challenging as it requires a supermajority of two-thirds to get approved.

“SchoolForce was founded 21 years ago when a parcel tax failed for $333, which would have meant the decimation of instrumental music in elementary schools, losing learning specialists, and closing the of libraries. A $298 parcel tax renewal was just passed on the June ballot, but what we really need is a parcel tax of around $600. We had to change our strategy — we can't pass what we need, we have to pass what our voters will allow,” Andrews said.

Proposition 13 also limited property tax increases to 2% per year regardless of the property’s estimated market value. Public schools have historically received a sizable portion of their funding from local property taxes: it contributed to 21% of California’s public school funding in the 2019-2020 year, so the result was a flatline in funding over the years.

“Schools have been fighting for enough money to function for 50 years now. Out of that came the need for every school to have an academic foundation. In some cases where the community is really wealthy, the school district is able to raise enough money locally for their kids to do really well. In places where the community is less wealthy, the money isn't there and they can't take care of their kids properly. The result is an overall decline in schools and an increase in the achievement gap along financial lines,” said Alan Sarver, the chair of Celebrate the Music Festival committee that organizes the event.

Since the festival’s first staging, BRSSD has maintained its music program and seen many students through the years. One such student was Clare Marks, who returned to her roots to become the orchestra and choir teacher at Ralston Middle School.

“After I started my musical journey in orchestra and choir at Ralston, I was in music at Carlmont for four years. I got super involved with the musical, which led me to study music education in college. I didn't realize until I got to college how lucky we are to have such well-supported programs, because I had friends who were saying that they had terrible choir experiences and they performed once a year, maybe, or how their school couldn’t support a music program,” Marks said.

As education has become more focused on the studies of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in recent years, it has come at the expense of teaching music and the arts. This can lead students to miss out on and feel disconnected from classical music.

“Formal music education has suffered over the years, which affects audiences of symphony orchestras, ballet, and so forth. People that aren’t exposed to formal or classical music often see it as sort of an elite form that they can't relate to, but if they're educated about that kind of music to some degree, they're more likely to get the benefits of classical music,” Thielen said.

Music programs are often the first to be cut when funding becomes tight, taking away the benefit they provide students away with them.

“There's been a lot of studies that prove that music education benefits students in many other areas, including developing their logic, their teamwork, and their focus,” said Peter Thielen, the band teacher at Ralston Middle School.

Music education also encourages students to come out of their shell. For many of the elementary school kids, music performances were their first performances in front of a major audience, which gave them a goal to work towards in their music classes.

“I'm so happy SchoolForce is paying for this and that BRSSD is doing this. It's very important that parents support SchoolForce. Seeing all the kids with a smile on their faces was wonderful — they seem to be enjoying themselves. I liked the fact that the teachers don’t make it stressful, they make it fun.” said Anamika Gupta, the mother of Anya Renchi, a Cipriani student who plays the viola in the BRSSD Elementary String Ensemble.

The festival featured a variety of age groups: elementary, middle, and high school students plus collegiate marching bands and local adult music groups. According to Sarver, there was a theme present of lifelong passion for music and mentorship between older musicians and younger ones.

“Everything is about paying it forward. The students from Ralston Middle School are running musical instrument demonstrations for the youngest children that are there. The Carlmont drumline is running the percussion clinic, which provides hands-on access to build enthusiasm among the kids. Everywhere you look, the people involved in music are not only bettering their own academic achievement, but they are giving to their community and bringing up future generations of musicians,” Sarver said.