AUSTIN, Texas — A bill filed in the Texas House proposes changing a key graduation requirement for high school students. 

Currently students have to fulfill one fine arts credit in order to graduate, but House Bill 434 proposes allowing a career and technology education, or CTE, credit to also fulfill that requirement. 

State Rep. Keith Bell, a Republican representing Texas House District 4 authored the bill, saying the intention is to give students more flexibility in choosing their courses, especially for students who know they’re not interested in taking fine arts classes. 

“I'm a huge supporter of the arts. This is not intended to ever change that. It's about giving kids an opportunity and a choice that if that's the track they're going. That's just not one more box that I gotta check," said Bell. "What I’m trying to do is open up the schedules.” 

But many fine arts teachers are opposing the bill, saying it would cut out a key aspect of a well-rounded high school education.  

A theater teacher in Austin says that exposing students to the arts is a necessity, and that the fine arts requirement is a major part of providing access to the arts for kids who might not have that exposure otherwise. 

“Falling in love with the arts was natural, and it seems like I was destined to do it," said Jessica Champion, the theater director and fine arts department chair at Bedichek Middle School in the Austin Independent School District. 

Growing up, she says theater was her safe place. 

“It was a place where I belonged. It was a place where I felt myself. I felt like I could be, and no one was going to judge me, and I could tap into my emotions and sensitivities," said Champion. 

Now as a public school theater teacher, she says her favorite part of the job is sharing her love for the arts with her students. 

“I have only taught at Title One schools. And I find it incredibly fulfilling to work with the students that have not been exposed to the arts prior to working with me," said Champion. "So many of them are telling me that my class was the first time that they ever watched a play. My class was the first time they ever read a script, in class was the first time they ever really put themselves in someone else's shoes and practice empathy.”

Champion worries that changing the fine arts requirement could be devastating for high school arts programs across Texas. The state gives districts additional funding for every student enrolled in a career and technology education course, so schools with tight budgets might cut fine arts programs in favor of CTE courses if both fulfill the graduation requirement. 

“There's going to be by default, an inequity, because the students who have a more affluent background have more access to the arts," said Champion. "So, as a title one teacher, that scares me because I just imagine what my students would be missing.”

She says she’s had countless students fall in love with the arts because of her class, including those who didn’t expect to. 

“He was placed in theater arts as a requirement, he had to have the credit, and they needed to put him somewhere," said Champion. "He fell in love with theater and it was a motivator for him. It gave him a reason to come to school every day, it gave him a reason to pass his classes, and it made him feel like he belonged somewhere.”

She says changing the fine arts requirement would mean that a lot of students won’t get that exposure. 

“You're robbing the kids of the opportunity to expand on themselves," said Champion. "The arts, nurture a part of us that we may not be aware of, or in tune with until we're exposed, empathy, compassion… So, in, in my humble opinion, it is key to the human experience.”

House Bill 434 is currently pending in the Texas House Public Education committee after witnesses gave testimony on the bill in a public hearing on March 9.