Texas loves high school sports from the big pep rallies to the huge crowds at games, there’s no question about the value of sports in Texas.

This passionate love for sports often overshadows another integral part of education, the arts.

Arts education is vitally important to a well-rounded education and shouldn’t be ignored.

Because of the arts, many students have improved their test scores.

According to the nonprofit organization Americans for the Arts’ website, “Students who take four years of arts and music classes average almost 100 points better on their SAT scores than students who take only one-half year or less.”  

Research has also shown that the arts lead students to improve academically and improves student attendance.

According to the report ”Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America’s Future through Creative Schools,” by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, “Students who study art are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement and three times more likely to be awarded for school attendance.”  

Not only does arts education have academic benefits, but it also helps low-income students with socio-economic benefits.

According to a study of high-poverty schools in Chicago by Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE), the schools that participated in CAPE made huge strides in closing the gap between high-income and low-income students’ academic achievement.

Arts education helps low-income students in high school and sets them up for success for the rest of their lives. 

“Low-income students who are highly engaged in the arts are twice as likely to graduate college as their peers with no arts education,” American for the Arts’ website stated.

The arts are declining and have been in decline since the 1980s. Funding is being cut from the arts drastically but it has a bigger impact than sports.

According to Education Week’s website, “When considering the broadest impact on education over the longest period of time, music programs are far superior to football programs in return on dollars invested.”

We should be valuing arts education and pressuring school leaders to continue supporting the arts and expanding the programs.  Change will only come if we do something about it. Take the time to advocate for the arts by writing a letter of support to the school board, the superintendent or the  principal about the arts.