Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown is providing assistance to help city schools retain their music programs.
This past spring, Buffalo's school board eliminated or reduced funding for music programs. But Tuesday morning, the mayor stood in front of the Lydia T. Wright School to announce he is pledging funding to save and restore the music programs this school year
"Working with the Buffalo city council, I will be proposing to add $400,000 to fully restore music programs in the Buffalo Public Schools," Brown said, after asking for a drum roll from a music student in attendance.
13-year-old Ryan Saunders has been playing the drums for the past two-years at the Wright school. Saunders doesn't want to loose his chance to play music.
"I was very upset and I was very surprised. I didn't think that would happen and I was hoping it wouldn't happen," said Saunders.
The money, which will come from the city's general fund, needs to be approved by the Common Council. Lawmaker are currently in summer recess, but Council president Richard Fontana is pledging to reconvene lawmakers in a special session, possibly later this week, to vote on the allocation.
"The task of getting five council members together in August is going to be like herding cats, but we will do our best," Fontana said. "Hopefully maybe by Thursday we can get this item approved in the council."
The mayor says once approved, Say Yes to Education would over see the funding to facilitate the proper use and monitoring of the funds this school year.
But as the mayoral primary race draws near, WBFO News asked the mayor why he waited just weeks before the start of school to announce the funding.
"Well obviously work had to be done. Research had to be done. The plan had to be drafted that made sense to fully restore music to all of the schools and all of the children that were going to lose it," said Mayor Brown.
Nick Corallo is a music teacher at the Wright school. He's pleased with the Mayor's efforts. Corallo said at this point he's not sure about his position for the upcoming school year.
"I was sort of left, by the administration at the school, sort of left ambiguous. I didn't know for sure," said Corllo.
Schools superintendent Pamela Brown said the funding would restore more than 5-full time jobs. Brown released the following statement in response to the mayor's proposal:
"We are very grateful for the support of Mayor Byron Brown and the City of Buffalo in their willingness to assist the school district in the restoration of instrumental music in Buffalo Public Schools. This generous $400,000 contribution will be utilized to restore programming to 13 schools and over 2,000 students, the majority of whom are in our lowest performing schools.
This funding will restore a total of 5.26 full time employees and provide instrumental programming, two days per cycle, to all of the elementary schools that cut their programs through school-based budgeting. In addition, the program at International Preparatory, a school that serves a high percentage of immigrant students, will be fully restored. These restorations will provide for feeder programs into the Buffalo Visual and Performing Arts and other high schools.
Based on current research, students who are involved with instrumental music enjoy higher academic achievement, improved attendance and better communication skills.
While we realize this is only a one-year solution, it will give the District additional time to determine the role of music programs in the core curriculum and gather input from school communities to plan for students’ needs as we continue our mission to provide every student with a world class education."