Times are tough for the arts in public schools. It seems whenever a school is looking to cut spending, arts programs are on the chopping block, and it’s a disgrace. We need the arts, especially music, in schools alongside traditional academic subjects to ensure bright futures for our nation’s students. A well-rounded education is a top priority for families. What are parents and guardians to do if the traditional public schools in their areas are not a good choice for their children?

Charter schools have been offering families an alternative to traditional public schools for over twenty years. With smaller class-sizes, top-notch faculty, and freedom from red tape, it may sound as though charter schools would cater to the elite; but a survey from the Center for Education Reform found that 61 percent of all charter schools serve a student body in which 60 percent qualify for the Free or Reduced Lunch Program. The same survey also found that charter schools receive 36 percent less funding than their traditional public school counterparts. Charter schools were conceived with the intention of transforming public education, and now enough time has passed to evaluate their effectiveness. Despite disadvantages from the start, Deborah Kenny asserts that charter schools “work” due to a balance of freedom and accountability. To corroborate her claim, a 2009 technical study of New York City charter school student performances found that charter schools do, in fact, have a positive impact on state-mandated standardized tests results. Charter schools are a necessary alternative for low-income families trapped by failing school systems.

As an opera singer, I see it fitting to talk specifically about charter schools that emphasize music in their curriculum. These schools aren’t necessarily focused on churning out our next Verdi or Wagner. Instead, they utilize music as a booster to enhance cross-disciplinary academic performance. An education in music extends beyond reading notes on a page. A young musician develops strong work ethic, perseverance, and determination. Music introduces a different way of thinking, and when a student has more than one approach to new learning material, whether it’s a mathematic equation or new vocabulary list, he or she has a better chance of mastering it. Most importantly, music builds confidence. The sense of accomplishment after perfecting a difficult phrase transcends the practice room- no homework assignment is insurmountable. Given my background, it is obvious that I would be in favor of a music-intensive curriculum, but personal bias aside, the results speak for themselves.

Take the Voice Charter School, an elementary and middle school in Queens, which incorporates daily choral lessons. Voice students aren’t necessarily musically inclined when they enter the school (students are admitted through the standard lottery process), and their results speak to the benefits of a music education for any student. As reported by Elizabeth Harris for the New York Times, in 2013 Voice students achieved an impressive 70 percent proficiency in New York State math exams, compared to a state-wide average of 39 percent. Music is rooted in mathematics, so these results come as no surprise to me. What’s interesting is the relationship between music and language acquisition. This is especially important to the Voice’s student population in which eighteen percent are non-native speaking English language learners (the city-wide average is at fourteen percent). The results: 39 percent proficiency in English, nine points higher than the state-wide average at 30 percent. How does this compare to other New York City charter schools? These results place Voice high on the list of all charter schools within New York City, and at the top for charter schools within Queens.

Up in Red Sox land, the Conservatory Lab Charter School (CLCS) in Brighton, Massachusetts is another prime example of the benefits of a music-intensive curriculum. Students don’t just learn about music, music is implemented to teach traditional subjects via the Learning Through Music program. Students are required to take up a stringed instrument and participate in one of seven orchestras beginning in first grade as part of the El Sistema method, which is a hallmark of the school’s curriculum. At the heart of El Sistema is the philosophy that “the pursuit of musical excellence teaches students to strive for quality in all areas of their lives”. CLCS proudly displays their upward trending test-performances, with scores for math eight points higher than the state average and English on par with the state average. It is significant to note that the state averages in Massachusetts are considerably higher than those in New York (the average for proficiency in math is at 65 percent across the state of Massachusetts, compared to New York’s 39 percent). CLCS serves a student population in which an average of over twenty percent are English language learners, yet the student body performs on par with their traditional public school peers. CLCS points to music as the root of their success, and once again we see the positive relationship between music education and language acquisition. As Charleston, SC prepares to open its own music-intensive charter school, I hope music focused curriculums in charter schools becomes a significant trend.

Every child, from any background, deserves an optimal environment to succeed, but public schools are no longer such an environment. As long as traditional public schools look at the arts as expendable, sacrificing them to free up funding, we should be looking to educate our children elsewhere. Underserved communities can find hope in charter schools. Whether the focus is on music, math and science, or generic college preparation, charter schools have been able to raise disadvantaged students to greater academic heights than our failing public schools. Low-income families within the jurisdiction of floundering public school systems now have another option, but the Center for Education Reform laments in their aforementioned study that the supply is currently outstripped by the demand for spaces in charter schools. We need to open more charter schools, we need to ensure that as many students as possible have an alternative to the traditional public school system and can find a school that pushes them to excel in all areas of their lives. We need more schools like the Voice Charter School and the Conservatory Lab Charter School: with music in the halls, their futures are bright.