By Dara Johnson, For Iron County Today
Utah ranks 50th in K-12 education funding. While The Beverly Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program (BTS) tries to compensate for that lack, BTS funding doesn’t reach all Utah elementary schools, and Utah legislature recently considered cutting BTS funding completely.
The elementary schools in the Iron County School District (ICSD) are doing everything they can to fund art education from their own budgets, but consumable arts supplies are a constant cost. With the help of the Iron County community, Temple View Commons is funding these elementary school arts programs in a donation-matching campaign.
From March 30 to April 13, Temple View Commons will be collecting and matching donations for ICSD elementary arts programs. Local businesses and community members can donate any amount to this site, and Temple View Commons will match the total of those donations up to $2,700. Donations will go to the ICSD Foundation, where they will be earmarked for even distribution among ICSD’s nine elementary school arts programs.
Weston Marcum, founder of Temple View Commons, says:
“Building community in Iron County means investing in its youth. Arts and creativity are powerful tools that are too often underfunded, and we want to create opportunities to help students grow and shape the future.”
Shauna Lund, ICSD Foundation Coordinator, says:
“Art education is more than just a creative outlet. It is a foundation for critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Community donations help remove the barrier of recurring material costs, ensuring that each elementary school student has quality tools to imagine and innovate.”
These donations will not only give children the materials they need to create and explore but also provide much-needed financial relief to ICSD’s dedicated arts teachers, many of whom buy supplies with their own money and wait to be reimbursed at the end of the school year.