Staff at the Toronto District School Board is calling for $2 million in cuts to instrumental music programs, a 4 per cent drop in every school’s “discretionary budget” and less overtime for workers in the maintenance department, as a way to wipe out the remaining $27 million deficit.

The list of proposed cuts also includes possible merging of smaller night school courses and the layoff of two managerial staff in the popular Grade 1 Reading Recovery program.

Trustees will vote on the proposed cuts in June, but the most controversial reduction is surely the scrapping of a board program whereby music instructors train elementary school teachers over two years how to teach instrumental music, as required by Ontario’s curriculum.

Although this is not a cut to staff music teachers, “we’re concerned that this is a slippery slope towards cuts to music education,” said Allan Reid, director of MusiCounts, a group that has awarded $745,000 for instruments to the TDSB.

The proposal would lose 23 part-time music instructors who teach recorder, Orff and vocal music to Grades 1 to 6. The amount of time other music instructors would teach strings, band and steel pan programs for Grades 5 to 8 would also be reduced.

Among the list of proposed reductions are $5 million less for facility services, including less overtime, the reduction of some positions and more bulk purchasing.

Too the board will continue to have a moratorium on international travel by trustees unless approved by the board chair.

Trustees Shelley Laskin and Gerri Gershon recently attended the National School Board Association conference in California with the approval of Chair Chris Bolton and Director of Education Donna Quan. They made a presentation on community consultations and eco-schools.