Information is powerful. It can shape our history, our actions, and the very way we perceive the world. We rely on the information we learn through research to help us in school, and on the words of others to guide us through our everyday lives.

Yet, what we don’t know can be even more impactful. 

This year, BVSD began discussions to revise student fee collection within the district in order for them to more closely align with Colorado regulation as outlined by Title 23 of the Colorado Revised Statutes. This included a plan to reduce them in the upcoming 2024-25 school year. On January 24, the Board of Education approved the revised fees. Overall, the change will benefit students and families by making class expenses about $10 less than they were. 

Though the reduction seems rather small, teachers will have significantly less to spend on consumables for their lessons. In the art department primarily, teachers fear the fee will greatly limit the amount of content they will be able to cover in their classes and the quality of work students will be able to produce. As the cost of art supplies continues to increase, the lost money has only become more important to their program. 

The revisions to BVSD’s student fee policies also include a stricter limit on what money collected from students can be spent on. According to the BVSD JN policy, this includes books, technology, consumable materials, field trips, rentals, and certificate programs, as well as other optional miscellaneous items. The funds are not permitted to be transferred from year to year, nor saved to be spent on anything outside of what the fee was collected for. 

Additionally, fees will not be organized per class, but as a fee for a specific category. 

Currently, there are around 42 fees for visual arts classes in BVSD. Art classes also rely on grants to help raise funding for their students. This money goes towards paying for consumable supplies, including things such as paint, ink, pens, markers, etc. They require a budget to pay for repairs to materials, too. Repair money might go towards fixing the kiln in pottery if it breaks, or repairing cameras, for example. 

With the new JN Policy, though, art teachers are anxious they will not be able to fund these things. They will not be able to save a budget for major repairs when supplies break because fees cannot transfer from year to year. 

Here is where uncertainty emerges, though. The school district has suggested that additional funding will be provided to art programs should they need it. There also may be an art warehouse that would house supplies that would be distributed to every art class. This would be handled by Academic Services, meaning art teachers would not have direct control over the supplies they need for specific projects. 

None of this is certain though. BVSD has yet to create a specific plan for changes to art classes. The unknowns have made art teachers nervous about what might happen next year. 

Students in art programs at Centaurus may have heard that art funding is being cut, or that there may be limited or cheap supplies in the coming year. While these are all possibilities, nothing has been officially decided. 

It is important to recognize the ways that art classes especially are impacted by changes in budget such as this. As a program that relies heavily on consumables in its core curriculum, the new JN Policy will impact it more than other programs with set fees such as math or history. 

But when indefinite information is spread, it can lead to anxiety about what is to come. Exaggerated, misinterpreted, or unconfirmed conclusions about what could happen are shared, and it becomes increasingly difficult to discern what is true. 

When presented with information, be critical and consider where it comes from and why it is being shared.