Difficult decisions to close and merge St. Paul schools ahead of the 2022-23 school year came with a tantalizing goal: Deliver a well-rounded education to elementary students that would include the arts, science and other subjects taught by specialist teachers.
It didn’t turn out that way — not in the first year, at least.
Only about half of 40 elementary schools in the state’s second-largest district provided or were on track to provide a well-rounded education in 2022-23, according to a review by a district official tasked with helping principals reach that goal.
Expectations around the delivery of arts programs, in particular, have dimmed. State law requires districts to offer courses in two of four areas — visual arts, music, dance or theater — and to expose elementary students to a third, under St. Paul’s interpretation.