Progression of State & Federal Education Policy, Funding, and Legislation in Public Schools Since 1983

The purpose of this work is to analyze 1.) the ways in which the Cleveland Metropolitan School District has funded music education in public schools since the 1980’s. 2.) the kinds of musical opportunities that are available to students during the school day and the factors that affect access to those opportunities. 3.) why access to these opportunities is important. As a future music educator, these issues are extremely pertinent to the settings I will find myself in after Oberlin. My research consisted of delving into scholarly journals, books, an Oberlin thesis from 1999, and self-conducted interviews of Clevelanders who grew up in or around the city. From my analysis, I assert that today, students in CMSD do not have adequate opportunities to learn music and that overarching racial dynamics tied to a deep history of segregation contribute significantly to this problem