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Art has always found its way into Rexann Dubiel’s teaching.

In lessons about the solar system and Earth, she asks her third-grade students to do chalk drawings of outer space and the planet’s crust. In lessons about geometry, she has them do artwork modeled after Picasso.

Art makes its way into social studies classes, too, with students making masks when they learn about Africa and origami when they study Japan, to name a few.

But Dubiel, who’s taught at Sunset Beach Elementary School for the past 25 years, says she’s in the minority. Teachers often struggle to incorporate art into their classes because of severely limited public funding and the demands of federal and state education requirements that place an emphasis on testing in core subjects such as math and reading.

“It’s not easy to be creative when the stress is ever-present to meet expectations that are so stiff,” she said.

It takes generous outside donations to make Dubiel’s teaching style possible. In Sunset Beach Elementary’s case, a parent and community activist helps raise the bulk of funding — nearly $35,000 each year — for supplies and supplemental art instruction from a specialist who visits each classroom monthly, according to Dubiel.

Dubiel says she’s received just $300 annually from the state for the past three years to buy classroom supplies, including those for art.

Nonprofits and other organizations try to fill in the gaps through ad hoc arts programs — and that’s when the schools choose to accept the help.

But, more than anything, advocates question whether the Hawaii Department of Education is failing students by not giving them proper exposure to the arts, which have been proven to boost self-confidence, general academic performance and success in subsequent careers. A requires the state to guarantee every K-12 student access to a high-quality arts education, but critics say the DOE isn’t delivering on that promise.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

For more than a decade, the arts — as well as other “non-core” subjects such as social studies and foreign language — have been , in part because federal education requirements imposed during George W. Bush’s presidency under No Child Left Behind don’t require public schools to assess students in the arts even though it’s considered a “core academic subject.” The arts have also fallen victim to the national STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) movement, which encourages student engagement in high-tech fields in an effort to make kids competitive in a global market.

Advocates say teachers’ hands are tied by policy limitations and that make it difficult for them to incorporate art into their core curriculum.

The DOE, however, disputes that it’s scaling back arts education. Gina Nakahara, who works in the DOE’s Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Student Support, said the DOE recognizes that the arts foster college and career readiness, creativity, communication skills and teamwork.

“The arts create a classroom environment where students are excited about the learning and where students all feel they can contribute, regardless of their level of ability or background,” Nakahara said in an email.

All students, Nakahara said, should have the opportunity to learn the arts.

Still, the dearth of proactive state arts education policies suggests that such education, which includes the visual arts, music, dance and theater, plays a limited role in Hawaii’s public schools. A National Center for Education Statistics report outlining 2012 art education policies in each state shows that Hawaii ranks near the bottom — 40th out of 50 states and Washington, D.C. — .

But Nakahara suggested that the DOE doesn’t need to require arts education to encourage its integration into the classroom. Elementary-level students, for example get graded on both the visual and performing arts. And high school students can take arts classes to fulfill their elective requirements.

DOE officials say arts integration is one way teachers can differentiate their instruction style now that the state’s moving out of No Child Left Behind, but the state’s federally approved reform plan doesn’t explicitly mention the arts.

And critics say reviving public school arts is easier said than done.

Hawaii lacks a statewide assessment of student learning in the arts. Arts credits aren’t required for graduation from high school, nor are they required for admission into the University of Hawaii. The arts don’t get any mention in the DOE’s seven-year , either.

Meantime, the DOE lacks a comprehensive arts program, and some advocates say the number of high school art specialists employed by the district has shrunk rapidly in recent years. Nakahara did not specify how many full-fledged art teachers are on the DOE’s roster but did say it employs about 4,000 K-12 teachers — a number that includes all of the state’s public school elementary teachers — who provide some form of art instruction. (Teachers at the high-school level need certification to teach art.)

But arts instruction requires administrative support and adequate funding. How much funding goes to various programs is typically up to individual school administrators, meaning that the availability and quality of arts classes vary greatly across the state and across grade levels, according to state officials.

In elementary schools, where arts specialists are virtually nonexistent, it’s often up to individual teachers such as Dubiel to integrate the arts into other core content areas — an instructional model that became state policy more than a decade ago in which teachers .

The was developed as part of passed in 2001 requiring Hawaii to implement a .

ARTS FIRST, a network of local arts organizations, was tasked with developing the so-called Strategic Plan for Arts Education and revising the state’s fine arts education standards through the toolkit. The coalition has twice updated the plan over the years, most recently producing one .

In their reasoning for the 2001 legislation, Hawaii lawmakers said fine arts “are a fundamental component of a student’s comprehensive educational experience.”

It’s widely believed that classes in the arts . Students who’ve had significant arts education have higher grade point averages and test scores and lower dropout rates, among other signs of school success, according to numerous arts education advocacy groups.

Bob Grossman, whose nonprofit aims to provide students with an opportunity to do art during the afternoon hours typically associated with high rates of youth crime and substance-use, also pointed to the special role an arts education can play in the lives of at-risk kids. Expression through the fine arts enhances self-awareness and self-esteem, he said, noting that such opportunities are proven to reduce the prevalence of youth crime and substance use.

“If these kids participate, I’ve succeeded,” said Grossman, who also works with youth shelters including . Grossman said he founded Afterschool Art largely because one public school administrator a few years ago declined his volunteer work and thousands of dollars in outside arts education donations because the arrangement was too “humbug.”

Experts say integrating the arts into classrooms contributes to a well-rounded education that can enhance any student’s ability to navigate and succeed in the real world.

“We don’t want to train people too narrowly and technically,” said Peter Arnade, dean of UH Manoa’s College of Arts and Humanities.

Are the Arts Relegated to the Fringes?

The East-West Center does what it can to fill in the arts gap at Hawaii’s public schools.

The arts give students a broader world view, showing them the value of creative expression, said arts program specialist Eric Chang. In one of the center’s outreach programs, performers and other arts demonstrations travel to schools across the state.

The program has proven particularly valuable in recent years as teachers have less disposable classroom time and struggle to afford basic school bus transportation, Chang said.

“We are connecting what we present to the public to what students are learning in the classroom,” Chang said. “Exposure to an outside art and culture is important at a young age.”

Other programs aimed at getting public school students excited about the arts include free art classes for students every first Sunday at the Honolulu Museum of Art School, the Scholastic Art Awards, excursions to the Hawaii State Art Museum and some after school and school holiday offerings.

But if it weren’t for these types of fringe opportunities, some advocates wonder if Hawaii’s kids would get any substantive exposure to the arts. They say most arts education in the state’s public schools these days comes in isolated pockets made possible through specific grants and the efforts of a few passionate individuals and nonprofit organizations.

Critics say many of the values outlined in the state’s strategic art plan have yet to make an appearance in local schools. In many schools, they say, art takes second place to other subjects whose formal assessments determine funding and accountability obligations.

“Unfortunately, it’s a tough sell,” said Lawrence Taguba, an art teacher at Leilehua High School and president of the Hawaii Art Education Association. “Arts are put on the wayside. We’re seen as a frill.”

Visual arts, drama, dance and music classes are offered in most Hawaii high schools but are when it comes to graduation requirements. Students just need to take two courses in that bracket, which includes world languages and career and technical education. Officials say the DOE doesn’t make the arts a specific elective requirement in order to offer students more flexibility.

The limited number of DOE-employed art specialists further compounds the problem, Taguba said.

Taguba plans on hosting a summit next month to bring together current and former art teachers and brainstorm how to revitalize public school arts education in Hawaii. Advocates say it’s difficult to say exactly how many people are involved in public school arts education, in part because funding and comes from a myriad of sources and through a hodgepodge of programs that are overseen by various state departments.

Since 2006, the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts has sponsored several DOE education programs, including Artist in the Schools and Art in Public Places.

That partnership, according to Hawaii Arts Alliance CEO Marilyn Cristofori, has ultimately benefitted public arts education but also makes it difficult to deduce how much public money is set aside for it because it isn’t a separate line item in legislative funding.

Still, Cristofori stressed that funding for public arts has declined over time as its role in society gets less and less visible recognition.

“Most decision-makers and leaders grew up with exposure to some level of art,” she said. “They don’t all understand that that (exposure) is no longer a reality.”

But advocates say a proper forum for arts expression is just as important as exposure.

The UH’s Arnade said that one of the biggest obstacles to arts education on campus is adequate facilities. The Kennedy Theatre, for example, is 50 years old. The campus also lacks a proper performing arts center.

And that’s on a campus where art is among the , with more than 500 students in the program.