To the Stafford County Public Schools Board of Education: 

We, the undersigned fine and performing arts educators, parents, and other members of the community of Stafford County, oppose the proposed “Lever 1” schedule changes for Stafford County high schools and the addition of an Advising and Remediation/Intervention/Enrichment block at the expense of an elective course. An education rich in the fine and performing arts is not just fun and games, it is linked to more positive educational outcomes that reflect well on the district; enacting this change and thereby removing an elective course will have an immediate adverse effect on arts participation, which will have downstream adverse effects on employment of arts teachers in the county as well as educational outcomes.

Initially, the proposed change the Board has presented as “Lever 1” does not have an evidentiary basis to make such a change. In its comparisons of On-Time Graduation Rates and Advanced Diploma Rates, the difference between Stafford and the positive examples of this change that were presented - Fairfax, Loudon, and Prince William - is negligible at best. A difference of 4.1 percentage points makes an impact in the 40-60 percentile range, but if we are at a 92.6% on-time graduation rate in Stafford County, we are already above the average of other schools that have 8-period schedules in Spotsylvania, Fredericksburg, and King George, and we’re within .1 percentage point of Caroline County, which is statistically nothing. We have a higher advanced diploma rate than Prince William County and a statistically similar rate with Fairfax County. These statistics, in addition to being insignificant outcomes, are also not causally linked to the 7-period schedule in those counties - the median household income in Fairfax and Loudon Counties are significantly higher than Stafford, with Loudon County having the highest median income in the nation. A higher tax base allows those districts a higher per-pupil spending capacity, which research shows has a higher impact on student achievement than anything else. 

Second, while the official position of the district is that the advisement period “will not ‘replace an elective,’” that is exactly what it does. Core classes are not affected, nor should they be; the effect is the removal of an elective period in student schedules. The sample schedule on slide 18 shows that an average student who has a well-rounded schedule will only have one true elective course (unless they forego a foreign language, which potentially helps them earn college credits) until their senior year. CTE students end up with effectively no elective classes until their senior year. This will have a negative effect on teacher scheduling as well: teachers are required to teach 6 courses in order to receive full-time status. Removing an elective and the participation that comes with that removal will limit many teachers to fewer courses, which will make them part-time unless they are saddled with core class teaching duties in addition which is not only not ideal, but may not be possible given the need for multiple endorsements on licensure. The downstream effect will be that schools will end up having part-time arts educators or even sharing teachers with other schools, which is not a feasible option in the least bit and will have incredibly negative effects on recruitment and retention. Passing this schedule will show arts teachers that their work is not necessary to the operation of Stafford County Public Schools, which will result in an exodus of top-tier talent. 

Third, studies consistently show that arts education - especially varied arts education, or participation in multiple fine and performing arts programs - has a statistically significant boon on educational outcomes. The APA’s Psychology of Aesthetics and the Arts journal published a study in 2019 conducted in Miami-Dade County, FL studying over 80,000 students over a decade. The study found that students with arts electives earned significantly higher GPA scores and higher scores on standardized math and reading tests. A 2020 study from George Mason directly concluded that students of the arts were more likely to graduate and less likely to receive disciplinary actions compared to those who did not take arts classes. The NEA noted in a 2025 report based on datasets from the National Center for Education Statistics states students who are enrolled and engaged in arts programs show advanced social-emotional attributes associated with their arts participation habits, had higher math scores, higher cumulative GPAs (which persisted even when controlling for racial/ethnic group differences), higher graduation rates, and higher collegiate GPAs. The same study also showed that the more fine arts classes taken, the higher likelihood of completing a high school diploma program - an increase of as much as 131% over students who didn’t participate in the arts at all. To further prove this, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management in 2022 drew an immediate causal link between participation in fine arts programs - especially multiple fine arts programs - and better educational outcomes in high school and beyond, including improved writing and math scores, reduced disciplinary infractions, more school engagement, higher college aspirations, and improved cognitive empathy. Participation in the arts programs is a benefit to our students several times over; forcing students out will achieve the exact opposite effect than the district is seeking.

Board members, the fine and performing arts are interdisciplinary and complementary to all disciplines. Musicians learn complex physics, biology, and anatomical concepts just by singing or playing their instruments, and music itself is an exercise in mathematics, physics, language arts, and foreign languages. The theater allows students to explore their personalities and abilities while enriching students in deeper understandings of language arts, composition, and mathematics. Visual arts teaches students chemistry and complex mathematics while reinforcing prior learning of physics. Furthermore, all arts are inherently intensive social studies and social intelligence curricula. Moreover, students are inspired by their fine arts to perform better in their other academic subjects. Many students are also persuaded to come to school because of their arts classes and some even forego early outs in order to take more arts classes; taking that away will affect their work ethic and overall school morale and performance in ways the board has perhaps not considered, all for the sake of an unnecessary, statistically insignificant change. 

For the sake of the students of Stafford County Public Schools, the alterations to the school calendar cannot come at the expense of the arts. We strongly urge you to reject the suggested “Lever 1” of the proposed calendar changes and vote to keep our students’ elective choices intact in the best interest of our students, our teachers, and our district as a whole.

We urge you to sign this petition to show your opposition to Schedule Change Lever One.