i think that vapa is very important, and vapa administration. if that's what the music and art teachers need to help the teachers, you know, get whatever they need going. i don't know anything about budget, but i do know that this program is important to my kids and their friends, so please don't take away the vapa money. please consider it, and happy birthday dr. matthews. [applause] >> hi. i'm michael palladino. i'm the president of the board of the music alliance in the bay area. we work here with the public schools. i really appreciate commissioner sanchez' clarification about what this is really about, because i was around when p started. the idea was peef was supposed to be enhancing funding for the arts, not replacing general t budget for administrative funds. um i don't think it's clear what you're actually trying to accomplish, which is actually a good goal. i think that before you actually take money out of the vapa to move it to sport, moha a comprehensive sports master plan, have a plan of when you're going to move it over, and not j

i urge you to keep the money that is allocated for funding vapa for vapa. i personally don't understand how this move of funds will address inequity in the arts. please focus on strengthening vapa. thank you. [applause] >> good evening. my name's isabel portman. i'm a senior at george washington high school, an a.p. arts student and president of the student art society. art classes have allowed me resources and a safe space to explore and understand my own emotions more than any other experience in my life. for much of my life i've struggled with low self-esteem and the impact that bullying has had on me, and the only way i've found anything effective. art is absolutely essential in the mental well-being, growth, and happiness of sfusd students. i also have the privilege of running more informal art classes at school. for many, it is a place that we can feel involved in the school community and have a creative outlet, and they have a lot of fun. art has been proven a successful form of therapy for students with special needs, and some of those units help me

personal experiences with vapa, and that may be motivating some of this? i think that what i would -- what i would suggest is that we -- we should request an audit. we should request there be an independent look at how we spend our money. i'm concerned about some of the allegations made about do we provide instruments? we do yet no one seems to feel they have accessed those instruments. that's one small example. i think the problems that have been surfaced this year are serious enough to require some kind of an audit. what i would also like to say is that even from my own appointee who i think you heard and in the e-mail she wrote to every member of the board personally had some concerns about how vapa is recommended and funded. she told me they were not going forward. they were not about the 19-20 budget year, it was about how we can make this better in perspective years? i don't think anybody on the vapa intended for us to upend the budget this year. so what i would like to suggest is we pull this amendment back for the 19-20 budget, but that we ask the

i don't think anybody on the vapa intended for us to upend the budget this year. so what i would like to suggest is we pull this amendment back for the 19-20 budget, but that we ask the superintendent or really direct the superintendent to put forward an audit so we have much better information -- and not just vapa. i think we owe it to ourselves to look at all funding. who decides what money goes to sports or arts and music? so rather than making a radical, to some extent, very disruptive change in the middle of the budget process that we actually use or -- our role as oversight and ask for better information and oversight so that we can make better decisions in procespective educators. >> president cook: commissioner moliga? >> commissioner moliga: i trust my committee, that they're going to do their job and put out recommendations that are important. i know a lot of them, and their heart's in the work that they do. so for me, i was trying to ask myself, like, what's important? arts is important. p.e. is also important. p.e., just think like the hi number of dia

we have six vapa teachers. you can't tell me kids on the other side of the city are getting the same education because they don't have the same access. require each school to have one vapa teacher for every 200 students and unit peef to fund it. before the massive art cuts in the 1980 es, every school had vapa teachers, ars,

we have six vapa teachers. you can't tell me kids on the other side of the city are getting the same education because they don't have the same access. require each school to have one vapa teacher for every 200 students and unit peef to fund it. before the massive art cuts in the 1980 es, every school had vapa teachers, arts, orchestra, and choir. the federal government recognized vapa as a core back in the 1990's. parents' top school choices are always the school with the sequential arts and music programs. every teacher in the school resigned cohort recommended making music and arts a core course but the district won't listen. and it makes sense that all the parents want kids to have focus in the arts. a recent study found that musicians' brains are larger than nonmusicians. i've seen kids that don't want to go to school all of a sudden have a reason to come. we have an abbottee program in this district. wire one vapa teacher per 200 students, be arts advocates. thank you. >> president cook: thank you. [appla

vapa is supposed to receive $15 million. a level playing field.avez is a vocal teacher that benefits from the program. >> we have people coming in from the opera. we don't have the time to do. that we teach all day. >> reporter: these cuts are being proposed just as the newly revised arts education master plan was about to be presented by vapa. >> how do you run a cadillac with no gas. how do you have a great instrument that you cannot implement because you don't have the people. >> reporter: the arts festival may also go away. the festival show cases the work of all students district. this meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. i am live in san lyanne melendez abc7 news. >>> okay. thank you very much. >> time to get to the accuweath accuweather forecast and it is a nice one out there. >> don't get blown away by the wind. it is gusty outside. people have been talking about it. you feel the wind. blustery conditions. san francisco 47 miles per hour. 32 in the kind of wind we are experiencing is enough, this is a trash can meter, enough to blow debris around.

vapa is to receive $6 million.ield. >> we have people that come in from the opera. >> reporter: and this is all done by vapa. >> we don't have the time to do that. we teach all day. >> reporter: these cuts are being proposed just as the newly revised arts education master plan for the school district was about to be presented by vapa. >> how do you run a cadillac with no gas. how do you have a great idea that you can't implement because you don't have the people? >> reporter: meetings are taken place to possibly change this proposal. in san francisco, lyanne melendez abc7 news. >>> the teachers association in the dublin school been negotiating a contract. a state mediator was brought in to help with talks. >>> even when it is raining we call him mr. sunshine, but especially on days like this. >> absolutely. >> this is a forecast i could have phoned in. but i decided i like being on tv and showed up for work. clear skies out there right now. a bit windy today going to remain breezy overnight. it will be chilly up no

already underfunded vapa programs should not be cut and given to other departments. that is not what the voters of san francisco had in mind when they passed the public education enrichment fund. thank you very much for

so we know that some schools get a base fund of vapa, but some schools can raise additional funds to supplement. we just want to look at ways how we can create a central pot that has an effective voluntary mechanism for people to donate that will benefit all schools, so how can we bring across the district those types of things, and we want to hear from the parents and school groups in the communities about how to move forward with this idea. >> vice president sanchez: thank you. i know that santa monica, years ago, they were going to have a large percentage that went to a central pot, and it went to schools that didn't have active p.t.a.s. you might want to look at what they've done. they spent a lot of years hammering it out. a lot of people left the district because they depth want to share. it's something we should be looking at. >> i think that's the emphasis on the voluntary piece. i think there's emphasis on p.t.a., not wanting to force anybody, but we want to hear from the ground up, what are some ideas people have about how to move forward with that? and i think that's why w