Hello everyone! Since budget cuts and funding for art education is such a prominent issue in our society currently, I thought I would share the research essay that I wrote on the topic. This essay includes information about proposed budget cuts that reflect our society and government’s current view on art education, how budget cuts affect art educators, and how they affect our students, so I thought that it would be beneficial to share my research with other future art educators!
Budget cuts and less funding for art education programs is a serious threat to the arts—an essential subject for forming well-rounded and fully educated students. While schools and funding often favor and prioritize the tested subjects like math, English, and science, art is a critical subject for helping students develop a sense of creativity, critical thinking, and self-expression. For centuries art has been valued as a key subject for a complete education because it supports the intellectual, emotional, and cultural growth of our students. Without adequate funding, art education becomes deprioritized and opportunities for students to explore their imagination and self expression become limited. When art education is not prioritized or funded adequately, the education system fails to meet the needs of our students and we are not able to successfully shape our students into well-rounded, fully educated citizens.
Inadequate funding for art education programs is a very prominent issue, especially in our society today. On May 30th, 2025 President Trump released full details of his administration’s FY 2026 budget proposal that “includes a $4.535 billion dollar cut to K-12 education funding, with a call to return to “core subjects—math, reading, science, and history” (Triana, 2025). The proposed budget also eliminates all funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) (Triana, 2025). These budget cuts not only cut funding for organizations that are vital for art educators, but also for all artists, patrons, and communities (Triana, 2025). The proposed budget also includes consolidating 18 federal education grant programs, including the “Assistance for Arts Education program an Title IV-A, both of which support a “well-rounded education” and mandate the use of funds for supplemental programs, specifically fine arts curricula such as dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts” (Aars, 2026).
As art educators, we can expect these types of budget cuts to harm our programs exponentially. Not only may they cut our programs entirely, but these reductions will also “disproportionately harm rural and minority students, as public schools serving low-income communities face the greatest risk of losing arts programming in favor of moving resources towards math and English” (Aars, 2026). These budget cuts to art programs leave “underserved communities and low-income families with fewer accessibility to creative development and cultural exploration” (Christie, 2025).
Not only will these budget cuts make the educational equity gap grow, it will also reduce school to “standardized testing and academic classes, making it harder for students to stay motivated and engaged” (Christie, 2025). Without classes that serve as creative outlets, students will lose the places in education that “serve as safe spaces” where they “can express themselves freely, socialize, and gain important skills they might not learn in a traditional classroom such as collaboration, problem solving, and perseverance” (Christie, 2025). So not only will our students lose opportunities to express themselves, be creative, and gain critical thinking skills, they will also lose the opportunity to gain skills they may not be able to in a traditional classroom.
These budget cuts will also affect what we are able to teach in our classrooms. Since there will not be much funding for supplies needed in lessons, we as art educators will have to put more of our own money into buying supplies if we want to teach certain lessons. If we cannot afford to spend our own money in order to make up for the budget cuts, we will have to consciously choose specific lessons that include what supplies we do have. Overall, the budget cuts will completely limit what art lessons we are able to teach in our classrooms.
As well as changing what we teach, we will have to deal with the societal repercussions of the budget cuts, including if people and the government view art education programs as essential. The Trump administration states that these proposed budget cuts allow “states and districts to focus on the core subjects—math, reading, science, and history—without the distractions of DEI and weaponization from the previous administration” (Aars, 2026). This statement leaves a clear message, that “art is not a core subject, and arts education is simply not worth the time and money that math, reading, and history are” (Aars, 2026). As art educators we must not only deal with the repercussions of the government not viewing art education as essential, but also how society values art education. As the government puts more focus on tested subjects like math, reading, science, and history, so will society and we as art educators will have to directly deal with those views both professionally and personally.
However, we as art educators know that art education is essential in providing our students with a whole, well-rounded education. Art classes not only serve as a necessary creative outlet and way of self-expression for our students, they also support their intellectual, emotional, social, and cultural growth. Although it is not tested in the same way that core academic subjects like reading, math, and science are, art education is just as important in the development of the whole child. Without adequate funding for art education, education systems will fail to meet the needs of our students and we will be unable to nurture and develop well-rounded, creative, and intellectual future citizens.
Included are the articles I used for my research:
Triana, J. (2025, June 3). Arts education is essential – Educational Theatre Association. Educational Theatre Association. https://schooltheatre.org/arts-education-is-essential/
Aars, E. (2026, February 25). Arts education is not optional for a healthy democracy — Columbia Political Review. Columbia Political Review. https://www.cpreview.org/articles/2026/2/lwgztik8sv45qtoxzvrd7jjklu0v7k
Christie, J. (2025, September 19). Cutting arts programs’ budgets reshapes the educational landscape. The Reporter: The Student Newspaper at Miami Dade College. https://mdcthereporter.com/cutting-arts-programs-budgets-reshapes-the-educational-landscape/
