It’s not often the biggest concern within high school hallways are proposals for the next fiscal year education funding, but after Ames High School students began to catch word of the impending budget cuts and proposals to slash orchestra and music programs, it led students to organize a campaign to fight back.

Two AHS seniors, Monica Dreasher and Scott MacDonald, quickly set up a Facebook group in March once the cuts became a big conversation topic and students began to see the areas the Ames Community School District school board had suggested cuts.

“Facebook has become synonymous with the spread of information amongst students,” Dreasher said. “We felt that the Ames community, in particular the students who are going to be most affected by these cuts, deserved to know the direction in which things were moving financially, so we made that information known the best way we knew how.”

The group now boasts nearly 600 members and displays both the e-mail addresses and phone numbers of school board members.

Dreasher said that they have made efforts to voice their concerns directly toward the school board while continuing to share information with each other.

“No one wants to cut anything, especially band and orchestra, but I think there’s a lot of pessimism about the state of the district, particularly in regards to the budget,” Dreasher said. “There’s a sense of inevitability as to the losses, which is disheartening.”

A second group organized by adults in the Ames community launched a Web site just prior to Spring Break called SaveAmesMusic.org, in addition to a Twitter account and Facebook group of their own.

Betsy McLeod, an Ames mother with three children in school, described the effort as parents trying to ensure a future for music within the district.

McLeod said that once they heard of the situation in Des Moines they expected a similar situation to occur in Ames.

“I hear talk about music as an extra course but it’s not,” McLeod stated. “It’s really part of a core [education].”

The Save Ames Music Web Site has encouraged letters to the editor concerning the cuts and gained support from former Ames residents and students who have left posts on their Facebook group testifying to their time spent in music education.

McLeod acknowledged private lessons are available but quickly points out that creates a disadvantage for low-income students.

Dreasher said they planned to attend as many school board meetings as possible.

“I understand that the money isn’t there and that cuts have to be made, but I think cutting too much from education has long term consequences that need to be taken into account,” Dreasher said.

“In most states, legislatures actually are trying to make the cuts minimally impactful on education,” McLeod said. “The challenge is that education is not resource-rich to begin with so a cut of any size really hurts.”

Alyssa Wilson, senior in elementary education who has student taught in Des Moines, is now currently in Puerto Rico and said she noticed an increase in emphasis on reading and math, perhaps to boost low test scores.

Wilson said she finds some of the cuts “absurd.”

“Class sizes will be larger and special classes, such as music, P.E. and art, will no longer exist — how is this beneficial to the students?” she asked. “It seems as if the last thing people think about when cutting teaching positions is the children.”

“Not only will the cuts affect the families of the teachers who got cut but also, and most importantly, the students,” Wilson said.

The Ames organizers vowed to continue to voice their opposition and attend the next school board meeting Monday.

“Modern science and technology might keep us ‘alive’ but without poetry, music, and art, what exactly is there to live for?” Dreasher asked.