In today’s society, the increasing value placed on academics and pressure to attend college is being followed by a decreasing support of the arts.

Cal High is no exception.

When asking about the funding of the art program at our school, the general consensus is that it is nearly nonexistent.

“The art program is not funded at all by the school or state,” said ceramics teacher Kathy Tussy, who has taught at Cal for 31 years. “It is all funded by insufficient donations.”

Tussy said ideally she’d have $5,000 for this year to pay for the expensive glazes and other materials that ceramics requires. Her current class budget is $1,600.

She said the situation is getting worse for the arts.

“They’ve gotten rid of wood shop, auto shop…They are only focusing on the academic classes,” said Tussy. “We’re never considered academic, even though we’re learning a lot. It’s the district’s focus because it’s the national focus.”

Michelle Stephanos, who has taught Art 1, Advanced Art, and AP Art for five years now, said classes rely heavily on voluntary donations, which have decreased each year. With a budget of $80 in the red to begin this year, Stephanos said the struggle is ongoing every year trying to figure out how to make ends meet.

“We’re fortunate because we live in a community where people do value art and contribute,” Stephanos said, “but it’s becoming a definite problem.”

And a limited budget leads to a limited class.

“We’ve had to get creative with recycled art, which I like anyways, but it’d be nice to have more options,” said Leanne Tangney, who teaches Art 1, 2, and 3D Art.

At the root of this problem lies the free education regulations that the district is held to.  Tagney also talked about the lack of class involvement.

According to Stephanos, in the past students have had to pay for their own supplies that would need for their class.

“If everyone donated about $20 we would have enough,” Tangney stated. “Last year I had maybe half of my students donate for Art 1.”

Junior Kianna Ferrer, who took Art 1 last year and moved up to Art 3 this year, agrees that the program is clearly underfunded.

“It definitely makes not just me but other students feel obligated [to provide materials],” said Ferrer.

Others are not so certain. Sophomore Delaney Bullock, who is in Art 2 after taking Art 1 last year, hesitated in answering the question of whether the program is underfunded.

“I’m not sure,” she said. “Yeah, maybe not enough people give donations.”

Senior Kent Nguyen, also in Art 2,  had conflicting thoughts.

“We do have all the supplies we need,” he said, “but all the art classes are asking for donations because things are dying, like sharpies, for example.”

Across the table, senior Jake Borrero saw no problem.

“It’s fine the way it is,” he said.

Those who do feel it is indeed underfunded are working on solutions. Ferrer suggested focusing more attention on fundraising and spreading awareness. Tangney agrees.

“I’m looking into and talking to other teachers about fundraisers,” she shared. “I’d like to try having students create art for a fundraiser.”

Stephanos said there are plans of forming a committee this fall to figure out ways to boost funds. Her ideas for raising funds included selling calendars, art cards and T-shirts.

“The big concern is that we don’t want to complain to a community that is so generous in so many ways,” Stephanos said. “But we want to communicate to the community that we need support in order to bring about fun and exciting artworks.”

Tangney agreed.

“I would just stress that we have a strong art program, which can be a rare thing compared to other high schools,” Tangney said. “But to keep the program strong and offer the variety of courses that we have, we do need the funding.”