Nebo parents fight for music program

In some elementary schools in other parts of the country, he said, fifth-graders are pulled out of their regular classrooms for music classes.

Also, he said, some districts have programs before school. The remaining students who are not in music have an opportunity to receive individualized attention from their teachers.

But the music students rarely fall behind academically, he said.

"For example, the SAT — you'll find music students, in spite of being pulled out, are still on top of the test scores," Benham said.

Benham is analyzing data from the Nebo School District in such areas as faculty-student ratio, the music curriculum in comparison to other districts nationally and economic viability of a music program in comparison to other programs in the district.

Benham argues that music is economically advantageous for a district. Music teachers have classes of 100-150 students; therefore, music classes are cheaper.

"The advantage for the district is if the music classes are large, then your other classes such as physics can be small. It balances the class sizes."

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com