The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a local newspaper. "The members of the town school board should not be reelected because they are not concerned about promoting high-quality education in the arts in our local schools. For example, stude

This editorial argues that the town's school board members are unconcerned about promoting high-quality arts education in local schools, and therefore should not be reelected. To support this argument the editorial's author points out that student participation in high-school drama programs has been declining steadily, and that the board recently refused to renew the high-school drama director's contract, despite the fact that he has written several award-winning plays. The author also cites the fact that $300,000 of the high school budget is allotted to athletic programs, and that the head football coach is the highest paid teacher. This argument is unpersuasive for a variety of reasons.

First and foremost, the editorial indicates neither how long the current board members have occupied their board positions nor the scope of their authority. Perhaps they are new members and the facts that the editorial cites are attributable to events and decisions occurring before the current board members assumed their positions. If so, and if the current board either has not had adequate opportunity or does not have adequate authority to reverse these developments, then any claim regarding their level of concern about arts education is unjustifiable--at least based on the evidence cited.

Even assuming adequate authority and tenure on the part of the current board members, they are not necessarily responsible for the declining student participation in drama programs. The decline might be due to some other factor. For instance, perhaps students generally dislike the current drama director. If so, then the board's refusal to renew his contract would indicate that the board is attempting to reverse the decline, and that the board is in fact concerned about facilitating arts education.

As for the fact that $300,000 is devoted to athletic programs, the editorial does not indicate the school's total budget. It is entirely possible that $300,000 accounts for a small portion of that budget compared to the amount budgeted for the arts. If so, and if the current school board is at least partly responsible for the current budget, these facts would cast considerable doubt on the editorial's claim that the board is unconcerned about promoting arts education.

Admittedly, the fact that the head football coach is the highest paid teacher provides some support for the editorial's claim assuming that the current board members are at least partially responsible for that salary. However, this fact in itself is insufficient to show that the board members are unconcerned about promoting arts education. Perhaps the football coach carries additional duties that warrant the high salary; in fact, perhaps he also teaches drama or music. Or perhaps his salary is high simply because he has been a teaching-staff member longer than nearly any other local school teacher.

Finally, the editorial's claim overlooks the fact that local arts education embraces not just high school drama but also drama programs at lower levels, and music, dance, and visual and graphic-arts programs. Thus even if the board's decisions indicate that they place a low priority on high-school drama education, it is entirely possible that the board is reallocating resources from that program to other arts programs. If so, then the editorial's claim is wrong, and the proper conclusion is that the board is actively concerned about promoting arts education as a whole in local schools.

In sum, the argument is unconvincing as it stands. To strengthen it the editorial's author must at the very least assure me that the current board members have been on the board long enough to have adequate opportunity to demonstrate their level of concern for arts education, and that they have the authority to do so. The author should also provide clear evidence that the decisions of these board members were responsible for the declining student participation in drama programs. To better assess the argument I would need to know the reason why the board has not renewed the current drama director's contract. I would also need to know what percentage of the high school's current budget is allocated not just to drama programs but to arts education generally, so that I could compare that percentage with the percentages allocated to other programs.