The number of art teachers in New York City classrooms reached a 12-year high last academic year as schools devoted a larger share of their budgets to arts education.

Last school year, city schools employed 2,770 full-time art teachers, 89 more than the previous year. Schools collectively spent $416 million on arts last year, a $17 million increase from the year before.

"The arts are not a frill, they’re not an add-on," schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña said recently at Manhattan’s P.S. 51, where she visited a music class before releasing the education department’s annual Arts in Schools Report. "The reality is we need more arts not less arts."

Read the full article about New York City's increase in the number of art teachers by Alex Zimmerman at Chalkbeat.