Letter of the Week: Don’t cut funding for the arts

As a seventh-grader at a public school in Kansas, I can practically see the arts programs in our schools deteriorating. With funding cuts to education abundant all through Kansas, the arts have a big target on their backs.

Theater, music, visual arts and writing have been part of my whole 12 years on this Earth. It has been proved by experts in child development that involvement in the arts can boost grades and test scores in young children.

I am extremely saddened by the lack of the fine arts in the lives of today’s young people. There are many other places state officials could take money to pay off the ridiculous budget shortfall Kansas faces.

I strongly believe that the arts are a necessary piece in the welfare of today’s students. In 2011, Kansas was the first state to eliminate arts funding in the state budget. Although some of that funding was restored, those cuts show the lack of support for the arts. That’s just plain ludicrous.

Margaret Anne Veglahn of Prairie Village attends Indian Hills Middle School. Her parents are Lisa and Dan Veglahn. She loves law and debate and is thinking about becoming a lawyer.

This story was originally published December 14, 2014 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Letter of the Week: Don’t cut funding for the arts."